A Deadly Game
by xXx Tinkies xXx
Summary: After receiving a disturbing phone call from her estranged mother, Kagome ventures into the dangerous forest on the outskirts of Raccoon City to search for her. Unfortunately, deadly creatures and unimaginable horrors await her fate... -COMPLETE-
1. The Horror Begins

Hello everyone! I've had this cross-over story idea for quite some time and I've finally decided to put my plan into action! You'll notice that I've altered some references & etc. from_ "Resident Evil"_, although that's about it. No characters from the game will be mentioned, sorry! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story! Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!

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_**[WARNING:] **This story contains major profanity, violence, blood and gore._

_**[DISCLAIMER:] **I do not own anything associated with the anime, "Inuyasha" or the video game, "Resident Evil" in this entire story._

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**Chapter 1: "The Horror Begins"**

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_July 24th, __5:37 pm_ _Arklay_ _Forest_

A woman was happily humming a song-less tune while she got out a few camping supplies out from the back of a truck. Her husband, who was a few feet away, was busily checking their green tent to make sure that he had put it up properly.

"All set! What do you think, huh?" The man called from over his shoulder as he looked the tent over to see if there were any last flaws.

"I think you did a great job, honey!" The women replied as she walked over to her husband and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "All we need now is a roaring camp fire to complete the look!"

The man laughed. "Yeah, your right. It'll be completely dark soon and I know _I_ don't wanna be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with no source of light!" He said sarcastically as he slowly stood up and headed off towards the nearby woods, away from their little campsite. "I'm gonna go collect some wood for the fire. Be back in a jiff!"

"All right! Hurry back!" The woman called out to him as she watched him make his way around some thick pine trees in the distance. She then walked over to the truck and grabbed a large backpack, filled with odds and ends and two sleeping bags. She then proceeded to the tent and started rolling out the sleeping bags.

After the woman was done, she was just about to sit down and take a rest when all of a sudden, she heard loud, pain-filled screams echoing nearby.

Panic and fear seeped through her veins as the woman instantly recognized that it was her husband who was the one screaming. In a panicked hurry, she quickly scrambled out from the tent and ran towards off into the woods to search for her husband.

"HENRY?" The woman called out in a desperate, panicked tone as she continued running and scanning the surrounding area, hoping to God that he was all right-but his loud, agonizing screams weren't very convincing.

All of a sudden, the sound of her husbands' screaming ceased, but the woman was in too much of a panicked state to notice.

"HENRY?" The woman desperately called out again as tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Upon passing through a thicket of pine trees, she suddenly spotted something which made her stop dead in her tracks: lying motionlessly on the cool and damp forest ground a few yards away from her, was her husband-covered in blood. The only way that she was able to recognize him was from his clothing, which now was mostly tattered and soaked with his own blood. From what she could see, his face had been mauled beyond recognition and there were several deep scratches across his chest. Large sections of flesh from his torso, legs and arms were missing, which exposed some of the man's organs and other innards. His throat had also been ripped out as well.

"Oh... oh God..." Was all the woman could utter as she took a shaking step backwards. She could feel the vile starting to rise within her throat and tried to suppress it as she quickly switched her gaze to the ground in front of her instead of the mutilated body.

Suddenly, the sound of something rustling in the thicket of bushes that were a few feet away from the man's body alerted the woman's attention. As the woman looked over towards the spot where the noise was coming from, three ungodly creatures suddenly emerged from the bushes.

The woman was so horrified at the gruesome site of the creatures, that she was unable to find her voice to scream out her fear.

All three of the creatures looked similar in state. They all had dirty, blood-covered black & tan fur, which hardly covered their mangled bodies. Patches of flesh were missing throughout their entire forms, which exposed bloody-pink muscle tissue, tendons and bones. Even though they were a good distance away from the woman, the creatures were also emitting a bad stench, which was something like a rancid road kills smell.

For a moment, time seemed to have halted. The woman still remained frozen to her spot as the creatures stared at her with their blank, white eyes. Then suddenly, one of the creatures bore its' blood-stained fangs at her and started growling dangerously. Without thinking, the woman quickly turned around and started running as fast as she could back towards the campsite. Not too far behind her, she could hear the sounds of the creatures barking and chasing after her.

It didn't take long before the woman stumbled upon the little campsite, but she kept on running. She would've gone straight for the truck, but she didn't have the keys with her-they were in her husbands' pants pockets. _'They're catching up with me! I can't keep running like this!' _She frantically thought to herself as she continued to dodge tree branches and jump over fallen logs and sticks. Suddenly, she spotted what looked to be a river in the distance, which gave her some hope. _'I'll be safe once I make it to the water! They won't follow me in! They can't...' _

Within a matter of seconds, the woman finally made it to the rivers' bank. Wasting no time, she quickly stumbled into the shallow, cold water and started making her way across to deeper waters while trying to push against the strong current

But before she even made it to waist-deep in the water, the woman was suddenly knocked down forcefully face-first into the water. Immediately, she felt excruciating pain from her left shoulder and opened her mouth to scream, but ended up getting a mouthful of bitter river water. As she continued to frantically thrash around underwater in panic and from pain, she had somehow managed to momentarily knock the creature from off of her back. She then quickly picked herself up out of the water while coughing and spitting out water to try and get her breathing back. Her eyes started blurring with tears and she started screaming and crying out loud in pain as she reached around to hold her injured shoulder, but felt that some of the flesh had been torn away.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" The woman desperately screamed loudly as she turned around to try once again to make her way through the water, but before she could take another step, she was tackled from behind again-only this time by _all_ of the creatures.

The woman's screams and pleas for help were drowned out by the sound of the flowing rivers' water as the creatures unforgivingly sank their sharp fangs into her limbs and tore at her flesh...

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_7:18 pm__, Somewhere close by... _

A woman with short black wavy hair and brown eyes quickly yet quietly made her way down an empty, dimly lit hallway. The light padding of her brown loafers and the soft swishing of her white lab coat were the only sounds that she was making. As she continued to nervously make her way down the hallway, she passed by many electronic doors, medical charts and several other scientific data amongst the walls.

Just as the woman was about to round a corner down another hallway, the sudden sounds of many loud footsteps and deep voices talking in the distance somewhere made her freeze in her tracks. She held her breath in fear as she stood there staying flat against the wall, silently praying that nobody would find her.

Then as if her prayers had been answered, she could hear the footsteps and voices starting to become fainter and fainter, meaning they were heading in another direction. The woman then let out a relieving sigh and then quickly proceeded once again down the next hallway to continue on to her destination.

As the woman neared the end of that hallway, she suddenly slowed down her pace and walked over to a metallic sliding door that was off to the left side. On the front of the door was a painted white sign with red bold lettering that read: _"Room OFF LIMITS To All Staff & Personnel!"_. Ignoring the sign, she quickly reached into her right pocket of her lab coat and retrieved a white plastic key card. Immediately, she swiped the card through the silver security device that was off to the right side of the door and then pushed a few buttons to put in the pass code. A second later, there was a beeping sound and then suddenly, the electronic door slid open. The woman quickly slipped inside the room while mentally cursing at how loud the beeping noise was as the door slid shut behind her.

Once inside, the woman discovered that there were no lights on. She then quickly felt along the wall beside the door until finally her hand came across a light switch. As soon as she flipped the switch, an overhead light in the middle of the ceiling came on, revealing that it was a tiny office room. The woman wasted no time in scanning the room for the one thing that had been on her mind since _it_ happened: a phone.

Finally, the woman spotted the phone sitting on top of the desk that was across the room. She then quickly ran over to the desk, picked up the receiver and immediately started dialing a number with shaky hands. _'If I get caught, I'll be-NO! Stop thinking like that!'_ The woman mentally scolded herself as she crouched down beside the desk, waiting for someone to pick up the phone on the other end. _'Please, please, PLEASE pick up the phone somebody!'_ She thought frantically as her breathing started to become heavier and her body started shaking with fear.

Just as the woman was starting to loose hope, the sound of someone's voice answering from the opposite end of the line alerted her attention. It was someone that she hadn't spoken to for over four years...

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_7:12 pm,_ _West End__ Apartment Building, __Raccoon_ _City_

"Ah, relaxation!" Happily exclaimed 18-year old Kagome Higurashi as she lazily plopped down onto the tan leather couch with a bag of potato chips in one hand and a can of soda in the other. She then grabbed the remote control from off of the coffee table that was in front of the couch and turned on the T.V. and started to flip through the channels. _'Hmm... boring... boring... stupid...'_ Kagome thought to herself while frowning as she continued flipping through the channels for something to watch. "Jeez! It's the frickin' weekend! You would _think_ that there would be something _decent_ to watch!" She suddenly exclaimed out loud with frustration. She was almost tempted to throw one of her sneakers at the television screen.

"Why are you yelling, Kag?" Groggily asked Souta Higurashi, Kagome's younger brother, as he made his way over towards the couch while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You woke me up."

"You were sleeping?" Kagome questioned, surprised that he was home. "I thought that you were going to the movies with your friends?"

"I was supposed to, but everyone said that they weren't feeling good." Souta replied while yawning.

"_All_ of them?" Kagome asked in disbelief.

"Yup." Souta stated as he plopped down onto the couch next to his sister.

"Bummer." Kagome plainly replied._ 'Hmm. That's weird...'_ She thought to herself as she took a gulp of her soda.

"So, how was work?" Souta asked as he quickly stole a few potato chips from his sister's bag.

"Just the usual, boring everyday thing." Kagome stated in a dull tone as she kept her attention focused on the T.V., oblivious that her brother was stealing her chips. "Mr. Smith closed the shop early 'cause he said he had a doctor's appointment this evening."

"Foh wha?" Souta asked with a mouthful of chips.

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. I think he has the chicken pox or something 'cause I saw him scratching his arms a lot the whole time I was there." She replied thoughtfully.

Just as Souta was about to say something, Kagome cut him off. "Shh! Wait a minute!" She quickly interrupted as she turned up the volume on the T.V.

**_(Woman news reporter speaking on T.V.)_**

_"...found the remains of a local woman's body that was pulled out from the __Marble_ _River__ earlier this evening. Police Chief, Myoga Flea of the Raccoon City Police Department, has stated that it was yet another grizzly bear attack from the __Arklay_ _Forest__. This makes the tenth victim within the past few days. Police have now issued roadblocks on the main road that leads up into the __Arklay_ _Mountains__ and urges local hikers and campers to refrain from going into that area until they find the source of these gruesome attacks." _

_"In other news, local residents seem to be feeling 'under-the-weather' lately. Residents report having high fevers, cold sweats, dizziness and other flu-like symptoms. We've spoken with Dr. Kaede Baba of the __Raccoon_ _City_ _Hospital__ about this issue. From her observations, Dr. Baba has stated that it's just the normal flu virus that's going around and that there is nothing for the citizens to worry about. She has also stated that if anyone is feeling severely ill or if symptoms do not improve within a week, citizens are urged to visit the hospital to receive immediate medical attention and a flu shot vaccination." _

_"And now, on with the sports news..." _

**_(End of news report)_**

"Well, that explains why everyone's acting so sickly!" Souta stated as he got up off the couch and stretched his arms up over his head.

"But it's in the middle of the summer!" Kagome exclaimed as she turned off the T.V. "I thought people only get sick in the winter time-_especially _with getting the flu!"

Souta just shrugged and walked out into the kitchen.

"This is just plain weird if you ask me..." Kagome mumbled to herself as she got up off the couch and headed towards the bathroom-but before she even made it to the hallway, the phone suddenly rang. "I got it!" She hollered out to her brother, who was currently making a peanut butter & jelly sandwich in the kitchen.

Kagome lazily made her way towards the ringing phone that was located on a small table in the corner of the living room. _'It's probably just another sales person or something...'_ She thought with annoyance as she neared the phone. "Sheesh! Alright already!" She exclaimed as she finally picked up the telephone receiver. "Hello?"

_"Kagome? Is... is that you?" _A woman whispered unsurely from the other line.

Kagome froze with shock. That voice... she recognized that voice! It was her mother... Tears started welling up in her eyes. "Mama?" She asked unsurely. "Is it... really you?"

_"Yes! Yes it's me!"_ Mrs. Higurashi happily whispered from the other line. _"Oh honey, I'm so glad that I got a hold of you! I really miss you and Souta! I love you both so much!"_

"We miss and love you, too!" Kagome exclaimed while sniffling and wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "How come you haven't called or even come to see us? Why all of a sud-"

_"I don't have much time left." _Mrs. Higurashi quickly interrupted.

"Huh? What do you mean? What's going on?" Kagome questioned, feeling utterly confused. She could hear her mother's ragged breathing on the other line. It sounded like she was crying...

_"Listen to me, Kagome," _Mrs. Higurashi sternly demanded, no longer whispering. _"Take Souta and leave the city, NOW! There's... there's been an... accident here at the lab... some virus that... just please do as I say! I- OH GOD, NO!-"_

**_(CLICK!)_**

The line had suddenly ended. All Kagome could hear now was the sound of the dial tone. "MOM?" She hollered as more tears started to flow freely down her already tear-stained cheeks. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" She then yelled as she slumped down onto the floor and started sobbing, while still clutching the telephone receiver in her hands.

Hearing Kagome's outburst, Souta had quickly darted into the living room only to find his sister lying on the floor, crying hysterically. "What happened? What's the matter?" He worriedly asked as he kneeled down next to his sister and helped her sit up.

"M-mom just called! She… she told us to leave the city because of... of a v-virus..." Kagome shakily said in between her sobs.

Souta looked at his sister with a confused face. "But why would she call just to tell us about the flu virus? We've never gotten sick before in our whole life! She knows that we-"

"S-she said that there was an accident at the lab." Kagome replied in a hoarse voice, cutting off her brother. She started to calm herself down a bit and wiped her tear-stained cheeks again with the back of her hand.

"Huh? What else did she say?" Souta questioned as he helped his sister stand up from off of the floor.

Kagome sniffled. "That's all she said before the line went dead!" She exclaimed in a frustrated tone.

Souta stood there and ran both his hands through his short black hair. "What the hell's going on?" He asked out loud to no one in particular.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Kagome yelled, finally releasing all of her vented up confusion and anger over the entire incident.

Both siblings just stood there in silence, neither of them knowing what to say or do for the time being...

* * *

Several hours had gone by since that disturbing phone call. Souta had passed out on the couch a few hours ago, finally letting sleep claim his tired mind and body. Kagome on the other hand, could not sleep. She was currently curled up into a little ball on the tan reclining chair that was next to the couch, trying desperately to catch some sleep-but it was pointless. All she kept thinking about was that telephone conversation with her mother. So many questions kept running through her head: Was this some sort of twisted joke? Had her mother gone mad or was she telling the truth? But there was only one major question that plagued Kagome's mind: What happened to her mother?

_"'OH GOD, NO!' "Those_ last words that her mother had yelled just before the line went dead would probably haunt Kagome for the rest of her life. It made her feel sick inside at hearing how terrified her mother had sounded.

Kagome couldn't take it anymore. She obviously wasn't going to get any sleep, so she got up from out of the chair and made her way out into the kitchen. She walked over to the refrigerator, opened the door, grabbed the carton of orange juice and then started gulping it down, not caring about getting a cup at the moment. After she had downed the juice, she then walked over to the small kitchen table and sat down in one of the chairs. Propping both of her elbows up onto the tabletop, she let out a depressing sigh and looked out through the nearby kitchen window. It was pouring with rain outside and in the far distance; she could see lightning striking every now and then followed by the low rumbling of thunder.

_'Fits my mood just perfectly...' _Kagome thought sourly. She felt like crying again, but she was _'all-cried-out' _now. Her brother was in better shape than her, although she saw how hard he struggled at times to prevent himself from crying as well. She sighed again. _'Hell, for all we know, mom could be dead.'_ She suddenly shook her head violently. _'NO! Stop thinking like that! She is NOT DEAD! 'She_ mentally screamed at herself as she blocked out all of the negative thoughts from her head. _'I have to do SOMETHING! I can't just sit here and wonder what happened to her for the rest of my life!'_

Suddenly, Kagome got up from out of the chair and started to pace around in the small kitchen. _'Mom had to of at LEAST left SOME kind of information about where she was working!' _She pondered as she kept pacing the kitchen. _'All I know is that she works for the Shikon Corporation... and NO ONE knows where it is!' _Suddenly, she stopped pacing._ 'Maybe she left some papers or something inside the safe!' _She quickly thought as she raced out of the kitchen and down the hall to her parent's room. When she entered the bedroom, she made her way over to the nightstand next to the bed and turned on the lamp. Then she started searching the room for the small metal safe that her parents had bought a long to ago.

A few minutes had gone by and the only thing that Kagome had accomplished to do was mess up the entire bedroom.

Feeling hopeless, Kagome sighed as she sat down onto the edge of her parent's bed and looked around at the mess she had made: Clothes, books, shoes, jewelry, make-up and other little things were scattered everywhere. She even raided the closet, inspecting from the floor to the ceiling and still found nothing! _'Where the hell is it?'_ She thought with frustration. _'If I remember correctly, the safe was only about the size of a shoe box-so why haven't I come across it yet for cripes sake?'_

Suddenly, something caught Kagome's attention that was lying on the scattered mess of a floor. She slowly slid off from the bed and sat on the floor and then picked up a big brown photograph book that was lying face-open on the floor. She started flipping through some of the pages, seeing pictures of when she and her brother were only small children. Surprisingly, there were also a lot of pictures of them with their mother.

Kagome continued to flip through the family photo album until she suddenly came across one picture in particular that caught her attention. It was a very rare picture of her father and mother. In the picture, it portrayed her father happily standing on a beach with his arms wrapped around her mother, whom was smiling happily.

Kagome kept staring at the picture with a longing look. She missed her mother so much! She also missed her father as well, even though she hardly even remembered him. After all, she was only seven years old when he _left_ to go work for the "Shikon Corporation". Her brother was only two at the time, so he probably didn't even remember him.

For years, the young Higurashi children and their mother had never heard from him. There were no visits, no phone calls... not even a damn letter was written. Only a money check from the Shikon Corporation was sent to the family each month. Even the envelope that the check was sent in held no information whatsoever on the whereabouts of corporation's location, so therefore none of them were ever able to contact him.

Then one day on Kagome's fourteenth birthday, the Higurashi family had finally received a phone call-but it wasn't Mr. Higurashi on the other end of the line: it was someone _else_ calling from the Corporation. The person had informed their mother that her husband had been suddenly involved in a _tragic car accident _and that he was killed instantly. When her mother requested for her husbands' body to be sent here in the city for a proper burial, the person had denied her request, saying that it was impossible to. The persons' excuse was that because his body had been extremely burned in the fire, there was nothing left but ashes.

But there was more to that conversation. Whatever the person had said to her mother after the heart breaking news still remained unknown to Kagome. Her mother never told her. But as soon as her mother hung up the phone, she turned to her two young children with a fearful look in her eyes and quickly explained that she needed to leave immediately to replace their fathers' place at the corporation.

When Kagome and Souta had questioned their mother why she had to leave so suddenly, Mrs. Higurashi's only response was, _"Daddy's work needs me."_. Without saying another word, her mother quickly left the room to go pack her suitcase.

About an hour later, a tall man with long white hair and wearing a black business suit and black shades, showed up at the door. When Mrs. Higurashi answered the door, the only thing the man had said was, _"Let's go."_. Her mother then quickly gave both of her children a quick hug and kiss, and also reassured them that _everything would be okay_. Then just before she exited the tiny apartment for the last time, she had whispered, _"I love the both of you very much!"_-then she was gone.

That was the last time either of the Higurashi children ever saw or heard from their mother-with the exception of the earlier disturbing phone call.

Ever since that day, Kagome had to immediately take charge and play the role as _the parent_ and take care of Souta and herself, since they had no other living relatives to depend on. Thankfully, the only good thing that the Shikon Corporation did for them was continued to send monthly checks, which easily covered all of the monthly bills, food and other needs, so therefore the city did not put them into a foster care facility.

Thinking back to those horrible, stressful days was enough to make Kagome cry again, but she held back her tears. The past was the past and there was nothing she could do about it.

Sighing, Kagome went back to flipping through the photo album. When she got towards the middle of the book, a loose photograph suddenly fell out and onto the floor. Curiously, she picked up the picture and looked at it. It was a picture that she had never seen before of her family. In the picture, her mother was cradling a baby Souta in her arms and her father _(who was standing next to his wife) _was holding a smiling little Kagome in his arms. They were all standing in the hallway, right in front of a large framed portrait that portrayed a little log cabin with mountains in the background and the sun shining a ray of light through the clouds, which illuminated the cabin.

_'Hmm, I don't ever remember having this picture taken before...'_ Kagome wondered to herself as she started to tuck the photograph back into the album's page-until she suddenly saw something that caught her eye.

There was something written on the back of the photograph, which appeared to be her fathers' hand writing. The little message read: _"The heaven above shine's its beautiful light upon the family's home, where it will always be safe and protected by God himself." _

_'Okay... Why would dad write something like that?'_ Kagome thought curiously to herself. She then re-read the message._ 'Maybe that's what the artist wrote on back of the portrait or maybe it's something from the Bible...' _Shethought, still pondering about the quote. Suddenly, it hit her: the writing mentioned the word _safe_ in it, plus the word had been underlined as well!

It was the craziest idea that she had ever thought of, but deciding to take a chance, Kagome quickly scrambled up off of the floor with the picture in her hands and ran out of the bedroom. _'I think we still have that picture hanging up somewhere!' _She thought with excitement as she raced down the hallway. _'Maybe this is a sign or something... I hope I'm right about this!' _

As Kagome came to the end of the hallway, she finally spotted the picture, which was hanging up on the wall directly in front of her. She then glanced down at the photo in her hands and then back up at the portrait-they were exactly the same. Taking in a quick deep breath to calm herself down, Kagome then carefully removed the hanging portrait from the wall and then gasped in shock. In the center of the wall where the portrait had once hung, was a 5" by 7" metal box imbedded into the wall. It was her parents' safe!

Kagome felt like shouting and dancing in triumph, until she suddenly realized something: the safe required a key to open it.

"Damn it!" Kagome yelled with frustration as she threw the portrait down onto the ground, feeling defeated. Just as she was about to turn around to go back down the hallway to her parents room, she quickly glanced down at the portrait when she suddenly noticed something which caught her attention. Curious, she then bent down to the where the portrait was lying, which was face-down on the carpet, and noticed that a small silver key was taped onto the lower left corner of the portrait.

Hope suddenly flooded through Kagome's mind as she hastily removed the key. She then stood up and went back over to the safe. Wasting no time, she carefully inserted the key into the key hole and then turned the key until she heard a small _click _sound. "YES!" She exclaimed happily as she opened the small door and peered inside the safe.

Contained inside the safe were a couple of old silver coins, birth certificates and an old folded-up piece of parchment paper.

Out of curiosity, Kagome picked up the old folded paper and carefully opened it. Even though the paper was in poor condition, she could still make out what it was: a map. Upon closer examination, she noticed it wasn't just an ordinary road map-this map looked to be roughly hand-drawn by someone. The unusual map portrayed the main road which lead up into the Arklay Mountains, but also showed a disclosed road near the end of the mountain road that was off to the right side somewhere _(which had been labeled "secret road" with an arrow pointing north)_. The _"secret road" _then led to a square-shaped box labeled, _"Onigumo Mansion", _which was basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by the entire Arklay Forest. Scribbled at the very bottom of the map, were the directions on how to get to the mansion, as well as a few notes.

After quickly reading the notes, Kagome suddenly felt many emotions flood through her entire being. The notes had briefly stated that the mansion was really the cover-up location for the secret headquarters of the Shikon Corporation.

Hope and determination settled in Kagome's mind. She knew now what she had to do-what she _wanted_ to do. She was going to find that damn _mansion_ and get her mother back: _no matter what it took. _


	2. Into The Arklay Forest

**Chapter 2: "Into The Arklay Forest"**

* * *

After last night's discovery, Kagome decided to wait until the next day to set out on her little _'rescue mission'_. Thankfully, the rain had stopped a short while ago, but the dark gray clouds still remained.

Kagome took a quick shower and then changed into a pair of flared blue jeans, a light pink tank top and ankle-length brown hiking boots. She had also put her raven black hair up into a ponytail with a white hair tie. Around her waist, she had wrapped a red & black flannel long-sleeved shirt--in case it started to rain again. She also wore black leather fingerless gloves and around her left thigh, she had strapped on a black strap that contained a decent-sized survival knife on the side.

If that story about the _'grizzly bear' _attacking people was indeed true, she wasn't taking any chances.

Lastly, Kagome had retrieved her old brown backpack to take along with her, which contained a small flashlight, extra batteries for the flashlight, a bottle of spring water and the map inside. She then grabbed the keys to her jeep that were lying on top of the coffee table and then put them into her left pants pocket.

After double checking to make sure that she had everything she needed, Kagome briskly walked over to her where her brother was still sleeping on the couch and then shook his shoulders to wake him up. "Souta, get up!" Kagome said with annoyance as her efforts in trying to wake her brother up were becoming unsuccessful.

"Five more minutes... I promise..." Souta lowly mumbled as drool started forming at the corner of his mouth and then dripped onto the pillow.

"Eww!" Kagome said out loud to herself as she made a grossed-out expression on her face. She then quickly composed herself and yelled a little louder. "Get up! NOW!"

Due to the loudness of his sister's voice, Souta instantly sat up with wide eyes as his tired mind tried to comprehend what was going on. "Huh? What? I'm up!" He quickly replied while rubbing the sleep from out of his eyes.

Kagome took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Look, I'm leaving to go find mom, so I--" She started to explain but was suddenly cut off in mid-sentence.

"What? You know where she is?" Souta questioned, feeling utterly surprised at what his sister was saying.

"Look, it's a long story," Kagome hesitantly replied. "But anyway, I found some map that shows the exact location of the Shikon Corporation."

Souta's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Really?" He asked in amazement.

"Yeah." Kagome stated with a determined look in her eyes. "I'm bustin' mom out."

Both siblings stood silent for a moment. Kagome then glanced up at the clock that was hanging on the living room wall. It was getting close to noon. She then looked at her brother with a serious look. "Listen Souta, I don't know when I'll be back or what's gonna happen, but I want you to promise me that you won't leave this apartment while I'm gone." Kagome sternly said.

"What? Why?" Souta complained. "Can't I invite any of my friends over or even go outside?"

"NO!" Kagome sternly shouted. "There's a lot of crazy shit happening and a lot of people are getting sick--including your friends." She then paused. "Something _weird _is going on in this city... and I don't trust anyone."

Souta frowned and looked down at the floor. "Fine..."

"PLEASE, SOUTA!" Kagome yelled as tears of frustration started streaming down her cheeks. "JUST STAY INSIDE THE APARTMENT!" She knew that she was acting a little overprotective, but the thought of losing her little brother--the only other person she had left in this world--scared her.

Souta finally looked up from staring at the floor and then noticed that his sister was crying. He then stood up, walked over to his sister and hugged her. She hugged him back as well. "I promise, ok?" Souta sincerely replied quietly.

"Thank you." Kagome whispered thankfully as she wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes. She then let go of her brother and made her way towards the front door. "I'll try to be back as soon as possible, ok?"

"Ok. Be careful, all right?" Souta said as he continued to stand there. "And please bring mom back."

Kagome smiled . "I will. I promise!" She reassured as she opened the door and then exited their tiny apartment.

**

* * *

**

As Kagome made her way down the hallway, she started wondering about the risk in _rescueing _her mother. Would she really be able to pull it off? What happened if she ever got caught? She was so caught up in her thoughts that she suddenly bumped into someone, causing the person to fall onto the thin-carpeted floor of the apartments' hallway. "Oh my gosh! Are you all right, Mrs. Baker?" Kagome asked worriedly as she carefully helped her elderly next door neighbor up from off of the floor. "I'm so sorry!" She felt so ashamed and embarrassed of herself at that moment.

"Oh, I'm fine dear!" Mrs. Baker happily replied as she dusted off the front of her long brown skirt. "I _(cough) _wasn't paying attention to where I was _(cough) _going."

"Are you _sure_ you're all right?" Kagome concernly asked as she suddenly took in the old womans' appearance. Even though Mrs. Baker sounded like her normal, cheerful self, she looked entirely worn out and fatigued. The skin on her face and arms looked deathly pale and beads of sweat had also formed on the front of the womans' forehead as well.

"Yes, yes. I just have a touch of that flu virus that's _(cough) _going around, you know." Mrs. Baker replied as she gave a small smile. "Nothing to worry about, I assure you!" The old woman then observed Kagome's apparel. "Oh! I see you're _(cough) _heading out somewhere?" She asked. "Going for a walk?"

"Um, sort of..." Kagome responded. She then noticed the old woman wince with a painful expression as she touched the lower part of her back. "Did you hurt your back when I bumped into you?" She asked with concern, once again feeling sorry for the old woman.

"No, no! It's been sore for the past _(cough) _few days." Mrs. Baker informed as she lightly touched the lower part of her back where the pain was coming from. "I'll be seeing the doctor about it_ (cough) _tomorrow morning."

"Ok. Well... I have to get going now." Kagome replied as she slowly started walking away. "I hope you get better soon!"

"I'm sure I _(cough) _will! Goodbye!" Mrs. Baker called out to the young woman. "Have fun on your little walk!"

Kagome then made her way down the apartment's interior steps and then exited through the front double doors of apartment building. Luckily, she had parked her red colored jeep right out front of the apartment building, so she didn't have to go far. She then walked over to the driver's side of the vehicle and got in. As she put the key into the ignition and started up the engine, she suddenly took notice that there were hardly anyone out on the streets. _'Hmm, this is really weird...' _She thought to herself as she watched an ambulance suddenly zoom down the next street with the sirens on _'Usually the streets are FILLED with people on the weekends--even on gloomy days like today...'_ Shaking her head slightly from those thoughts, she put the jeep into gear and pulled out of the parking space. She then drove off and made her way through the _almost-deserted _streets of downtown Raccoon City.

**

* * *

**

After driving for almost twenty minutes, Kagome finally reached a small suburb that was on the very outskirts of the city, which also bordered the Arklay Forest as well. The area was sort of like a _'small hic town'_--as some of the citizens liked to call it--due to the fact that almost everyone in that area dressed and acted like a _hillbilly_.

As Kagome slowly drove down the street, she observed that absolutely _no one _was around, unlike in the city where there were at least a _few_ people outside. It was like a _ghost town_... Some of the homes had their front windows and doors boarded up, while some of the other houses looked to be completely deserted--due from the lack of curtains in the windows and the furniture missing inside. She also noticed that one of the homes in particular had yellow & black _"CAUTION"_ tape set up around that house's perimeter. _'That must be where one of the murders occurred...'_ Kagome thought to herself as she suddenly shuddered, which caused goosebumps to form on her forearms.

Finally, Kagome reached the end of the road, where she was suddenly met with a barricade that blocked her from driving any further. She stopped her jeep just a couple of feet away from the barricade and then got out of the vehicle. She then walked up to the barricade and read the large sign that was posted on the front. The sign stated: _"Attention: All citizens are restricted from going into the mountains until further notice. -By order of the R.C.P.D."_

Kagome turned around and walked back to the vehicle and got in. She put the jeep into gear and then proceeded to drive off of the road to go around the barricade, leaving the jeep's tire tracks in the mud as her only evidence. _'Heh. I never was the person to follow the rules anyway!' _She thought while smirking as she drove up the mountain road that led into the Arklay Mountains.

**

* * *

**

About forty-five minutes of driving, Kagome finally made it all the way to the end of the mountain road, where it came to a dead end. Frustrated for still not finding the supposed _secret road_, she stopped the jeep and then retrieved the map from out of her backpack.

"Hmm, the map shows that the road leads off onto the right side somewhere..." She said out loud to herself. "But where?" Since the map didn't show or state exactly _where_ the road was located, she would have to back-track the road and search again.

Deciding that it would probably be easier to search for the _road_ on foot, Kagome turned off the vehicle's ignition, grabbed her backpack and then got out of the jeep. Since there was no one around, she just left the keys behind in the ignition. After she strapped on her backpack, she started making her way back down the mountain road, carefully scanning the right side of the forest to look for the _secret road_.

After about fifteen minutes later of walking and searching, frustration started building up within Kagome as her search was becoming unsuccessful. "Damn it! Where the hell is it?" She suddenly yelled out loud. "It shows it right here on the frickin' ma--" She then cut herself off as she suddenly noticed huge tire tracks imprinted in the mud that was off to the side of the road that led deep into the forest. "Oh... that must be it." She quietly stated to herself, feeling stupid for her childish outburst just a minute ago. Hesitating a moment to take a calming deep breath, she then started to follow the tire tracks into the forest.

Another twenty-some minutes passed by and Kagome was still following the tire tracks. As she ventured further into the dense forest, she noticed that the gray clouds above were getting darker and there was also the scent of rain in the air as well. _'Damn, how far IS this place, anyway?' _She thought with a frown on her face as she stopped for a moment to look at the map to see if it stated anywhere about how far the mansion was. After finding nothing, she was about to put the map back into her backpack when suddenly something odd occured to her. She didn't really notice it until now, but it was... awfully quiet in the forest. There was not a single bird chirping or even any animals such as squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about... Come to think of it, the only thing that Kagome had remembered hearing, was just the sounds of her boots squishing in the mud as she walked.

_'Ok, this is REALLY weird.' _Kagome stated mentally, feeling somewhat freaked-out. _'It's in the middle of the summer: nature is supposed to be very active during this time of the year... I think?'_

To make matters worse, it now started to lightly drizzle with rain. _'Great. Just great.' _Kagome sarcastically thought as a part of her ever regretted coming all the way out into the wilderness. She sighed and then proceeded on with following the tracks, while picking up her pace a bit.

A few more minutes into walking, Kagome suddenly got the chills. It felt like every hair on the back of her neck was standing on ends. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she felt like someone or _something_ was watching her from within the forest somewhere. There was also a strange, putrid-like scent that hung in the air, which seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

Suddenly, Kagome heard the sounds of some bushes rustling behind her in the far distance somewhere. She immediately stopped walking and turned around to see what was causing the noise... and almost screamed in fright.

Two Doberman-like creatures had emerged from the bushes. Both of the creatures' bodies looked mangled; sections of their black fur were missing, which exposed some of the bones and... decayed-looking flesh underneath. The one creature was even missing an ear--in fact, the whole right side of its once fur-covered scalp now exposed just the white skull underneath. The other creature also seemed to have one of its blank white eyes missing as well.

The creatures both started to growl and were slowly stalking towards Kagome, who was too afraid to move at the moment. Beads of sweat started forming on her forehead as she tried to decide on what to do: Should she run away? Should she just remain still and hope that the creatures wouldn't attack her? As her frantic mind tried to comprehend on what to do, she unknowingly dropped the map and started slowly taking a few steps back...

__

**(SNAP!)**

...and accidentally stepped on a twig.

At the sound of the twig snapping, one of the creatures' snarled and then lunged at Kagome. She screamed and quickly jumped out of the way, then immediately turned around and started running. _'Oh my god! Oh my god!' _Was the only thing that kept going through her head as she continued to run for dear life as the two creatures chased her.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a third creature jumped out of some bushes that were a couple of feet ahead of Kagome, causing her to quickly skid to a stop so she wouldn't run right into it. _'Shit!' _Her mind screamed in panic. Before she even had the chance to think, the creature that was blocking her way, suddenly lunged right for her.

Using her instincts, Kagome quickly dodged away from the creature's attack. With very quick and skilled reflexes, she did a roundhouse kick right into the creatures' mid-section, which then sent it to the ground a couple feet away from her.

Just as she was about to take off running again, one of the other two creatures' had managed to catch up to Kagome and suddenly tackled her from behind, almost sending her to the ground from the strong impact. The creature then sank its sharp fangs right into her backpack--luckily--and started tugging with a great force. She tried to pull away, but the creature had too much of a tight hold on her backpack. Deciding that she valued her life more than anything, she quickly wriggled out of the backpack's straps. At the sudden force of pulling away, she fell onto her knees as the creature behind her vigorously shook the backpack in its mouth, thinking it still had a hold of its victim

Just as Kagome was starting to pick herself up off of the ground, the last creature suddenly surprised her by lunging right into her midsection, causing the wind to be knocked out of her. She managed to stay on her feet though as the creature luckily only managed to grab a hold of her flannel shirt that was tied around her waist. "GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" She screamed as she punched the creature right in its head. The impact of her punch didn't even faze creature. Instead, it pulled more forcefully on the flannel shirt, which resulted in finally ripping the material away from her.

Taking advantage of the situation, Kagome quickly started sprinting away from the momentarily distracted hellish creatures. _'This can't be real! It just can't be!' _She thought, feeling overwhelmed with fear and confusion. She didn't know if the creatures were chasing her yet or not, but she wasn't about to stop and find out!

The light drizzle of rain had now turned over into steady, heavy showers, which was starting to completely drench Kagome's clothing as she continued to run. The very bottoms of her jeans and boots were also caked heavily with mud as she ran through the puddles of muddy water here and there, not caring about what her appearance looked like at the moment.

After what seemed like awhile, Kagome finally stopped running so she could catch her breath--after realizing that the creatures weren't following her anymore. She was slightly haunched over, trying to regain her normal breathing back, as well as also clutching her aching sides. As she was trying to calm herself down, she glanced up and then suddenly noticed that off in the far distance amonst the forests' trees, there appeared to be a very large house. _'That must be the mansion!' _She thought, feeling slightly relieved. _'It looks like its' about another mile or two away...'_

After waiting for about another minute to calm down, Kagome then resumed with jogging north through the forest towards the mansion.

Unbeknownst to her, Kagome accidentally triggered off a security sensor that was well-disguised and situated at the base of a random tree...

**

* * *

__**

The Onigumo Mansion...

A figure was casually lounging against a stone pillar that was situated on top of the three-story mansion's slate rooftop, not caring that he was currently becoming soaked from the rain that continued to pour down upon him. He had long ebony colored hair, which was tied back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck. He was also wearing the standard green uniform that he was told to wear, which consisted of matching baggy pants and T-shirt, black fingerless gloves and combat boots.

Both of the guys' hands were propped behind his head and his right leg was carelessly dangling off the side of the building. His eyes were closed and he had an annoyed expression portrayed on his hansom young face. _'I'm so sick of this place!' _He thought bitterly to himself. _'It reeks of death! I can't stand it anymore, damn it!'_

All of a sudden, there was a loud beeping noise emitting from his radio that was attached to the right side of his belt. Without opening his eyes, the guy retrieved his radio and then held in the button to respond. "What?" He annoyingly asked.

"Something has triggered the northern security alarm to go off. Go and check it out." An unknown males' voice ordered from the opposite end of the static-sounding radio.

"It's probably just one of those stupid mutts--why bother?" The guy smartly replied back.

"You will follow your orders, Inuyasha." The man ordered in a strict tone. "Besides, the hounds don't roam in that area."

The guy named _"Inuyasha" _slowly opened his golden-colored eyes and frowned. "Whatever. I'm going now." He replied in a dull tone. He then stood up and quickly scanned over the surrounding forest for the area in which he knew where the northern security sensor was located. Once he located the area, he then leapt off the side of the building and landed onto one of the lower roofs below. He then made a final jump and landed flawlessly onto the muddy ground in the front courtyard of the mansion.

_I could use the exercise anyway.' _Inuyasha mentally stated as he took off running through the forest.

**

* * *

**

Kagome kept having to squint her eyes to see through the heavy rainfall as she continued to jog through the forest. It seemed like the closer she was getting to the mansion, the harder the rain was pouring down upon her._ 'Just a bit farther and I'll be out of this crazy mess!' _She thought, trying to think positively.

All of a sudden, a raindrop somehow landed right in the middle of Kagome's left eye, causing her to quickly shut her eyes from the sudden reaction. Being momentarily blinded, she failed to notice the huge tree root a few paces ahead of her that was sticking out from the ground and accidentally tripped over it. She shrieked with surprise as she fell harshly--face first--into a huge water puddle, creating a large splash. She quickly recovered and pushed herself up from out of the cold, muddy water.

_'Ugh, I feel like throwing up now...' _Kagome thought miserably as she started coughing and spitting some of the muddy water out of her mouth. Not only did she feel nauseous now, but she was also shivering _(even though it was in the middle of the summer) _from being soaked head-to-toe from the rain and the stupid puddle.

Just as Kagome was about to start walking, the sounds of twigs and sticks snapping off in the nearby forest somewhere made her suddenly hault all movment. She quickly turned her head to the where the noises were coming from and waited, unknowingly holding her breath in anticipation. _'Please don't let it be one of those dog-creatures! I don't think I have the energy to sprint again!' _She mentally prayed as she waited for whatever it was that was in the forest to show itself.

Suddenly, a figure came stumbling out from behind some of the pine trees. As Kagome focused her eyes a little more, she noticed that it appeared to be a man. "Hey!" She called out to get the mans' attention as she waved her left hand in the air. She somehow felt a little relieved knowing that she was no longer alone.

The man then started to slowly stagger towards Kagome in a drunken manner while dragging his right foot a bit. His clothes appeared to be ripped in several places and the man also kept moaning lowly, as if he were in pain.

Taking notice of the injured mans' condition, Kagome started walking over towards him. "Are you all right, sir? Were you attacked by something?" She concernly asked as she started observing the mans' injuries a little more. The first thing she noticed was that the injured man had several areas of dried blood and dirt all over his tattered clothing. The leg that he was dragging, was exposed and appeared to have some of the flesh missing, therefore revealing the leg bone. She then saw that the man had several deep lacerations across his chest and his face was very pale, almost ghost-white.

Feeling suddenly cautious and freaked-out, Kagome immediately stopped approaching the man. "Um, are you... ok?" She worridly called out and then waited for the man to respond, but he said nothing. Instead, the man looked up with unfocused, glassy white eyes and continued to slowly limp towards her.

"Uh..." Kagome trailed off, feeling somewhat paranoid. She then suddenly caught a whiff of the air. _'Oh man, where's that awful smell coming from?' _She thought with annoyance as she pinched her nose shut and made a disgusted face. _'It's smells like the same as earlier, when I ran into those creatures!'_

The man, who was about five feet away from Kagome now, stretched his arms out towards her as he kept advancing. Drool started dribbling out from the corners of his mouth as he continued to moan.

For every step that the man took, Kagome would take a step backwards. Her fear was starting to increase and she had a bad feeling building up inside her gut. "Look, um sir, why don't you just sit down and rest for a moment..." She trailed off, still trying to keep a safe distance away from the injured man as he persued her.

Suddenly, Kagome's back met up against the side of a tree. That's when the man quickly advanced forward and quickly grabbed both sides of her shoulders. She shrieked in surprise and reacted by quickly pushing her hands against the mans' chest as he tried to... bite the side of her neck? "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She yelled as she tried to wrestle the crazed man away from her. With one final push, she finally managed to send the man backwards, making him land right on his backside onto the muddy ground. She then frantically un-strapped her survival knife that was strapped to her left thigh and held it out defensively in front of her. "Stay away from me! I'm warning you!" She threatened to the man as he started to pick himself up from off of the ground, ignoring her warning completely.

The man ignored Kagome's warning and advanced again. When he got close enough, he tried to grab for her shoulders again, but she quickly swung the knife sideways, slicing at his chest--but the assault didn't even faze the man one bit. He just lunged at Kagome again, but she reacted quickly by kicking him in the gut, which caused the man to stumble backwards--but he just came forward again!

_'What's WITH this guy? He's insane!' _Kagome frantically thought as she kicked the man in his gut, causing him to fall again. _'Every time I attack him, he just keeps coming back! It seems like he doesn't even feel the pain...' _

Before the man even got the chance to get up, Kagome quickly rushed over and held him down by kneeling forcefully on his chest to prevent him from getting back up. She then raised her right hand high into the air, holding the survival knife. _'He's obviously crazed in the head! I can't... I can't let him suffer like this! God, please forgive me for what I'm about to do...' _She mentally prayed as she used her unoccupied hand to hold the mans' head to the ground.

With a sudden yell of mixed emotions, Kagome then forcefully slammed the survival knife down right into the middle of the mans' forehead, thus creating a sick crunching sound. She then immediately scrambled a few feet away from the man's lifeless body, while breathing heavily and shaking with shock and fear.

_'Oh my God! I can't believe I just... I... Oh my God!' _Kagome thought, feeling scared and disgusted with herself. Tears then started streaming down her cheeks as she kept her eyes on the lifeless body. She then slowly picked herself up from off of the ground with shaky knees. "I just killed someone..." She then whispered to herself as she started wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"He was already dead to begin with." A voice suddenly called out from somewhere in the trees nearby.

Startled, Kagome quickly turned around in the direction where the voice had come from. "WHO'S THERE?" She demanded out loud in a paranoid tone.

A figure then suddenly jumped off from a high tree branch and landed flawlessly a few feet away from Kagome, causing her to take a step back in surprise. Once she composed herself, she then observed the person's appearance: It was obviously a guy who looked to be about her age, maybe a year or two older. He had long white hair that was tied into a low ponytail at the base of his neck and golden yellow eyes. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt that was tucked inside of his matching baggy cargo pants, a black belt around his waist that had a radio attached to the side, black calf-high combat boots and black fingerless gloves. She also noticed that the symbol for the _"Shikon Corporation" _was printed on the left side of his T-shirt. _(It's like the corporation symbol from the game.)_

The guy studied Kagome for a minute and then smirked. "I'm surprised you even made it this far." He stated in a mocking tone.

"What do you mean?" Kagome questioned, feeling confused. She then glared at the guy. "Who are you?"

"You're coming with me." The guy stated in a serious tone, completely ignoring Kagome's questions. "Cooperate or else I'll have to do so forcefully."

Taken aback in shock, Kagome put both of her hands on her hips and continued to glare at the guy. "Excuse me?" She stated in a smart and angry tone. "Just who the hell do you think _you_ are bossing me around? I'm not going_ anywhere _with you, ASSHOLE!"

The guy smirked again while he started cracking his knuckles. "Have it your way then, _wench_!" He stated as he quickly lunged straight for Kagome.


	3. The Demon Within

**Chapter 3: "The Demon Within"**

* * *

**_(Inuyasha's POV) _**

_'Finally, some fresh air!' _I happily thought as I ran through the forest at an incredible speed that no ordinary human possessed, causing the scenery all around me to look like one big green blur. But I eventually slowed my pace down to a jog 'cause I wasn't in much of a hurry, even though I had orders to follow. It just felt so good to exercise my lazy muscles--and to finally get away from that damn mansion.

God, how I loathe that place! It reeks of death--literally! There are so many dead bodies in the mansion that someone could label the place as an over-crowded morgue!

_(Sound of someone screaming)_

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted as I heard someone screaming in the distance somewhere. I quickly skidded to a stop, which caused me to slide a few feet in the mud, and then patiently waited to see if I could hear--with my superior hearing of course--where the screams were coming from.

_(Sound of someone screaming again) _

_'There!'_ I declared to myself as I quickly sprinted off in the eastern direction towards where the screaming was coming from. _'It sounds like a girl...'_

Within a matter of seconds, I finally reached a little open area in the forest where I saw some girl wrestling with one of the undead. Feeling a bit curious, I quickly jumped up onto a high tree branch so I could watch the amusing _'wrestling match' _without being noticed. As I continued to observe the scene, I noticed that the girl was pretty damn strong against the zombie! Usually one of those walking corpses could easily take down its victim in no time, but this girl seemed different somehow...

Out of curiosity, I quickly sniffed the air for the girls' scent. _'Hmm, she smells like a human but...' _I thought to myself, feeling confused. _'I also smell the scent of a demons' as well.'_ I shook my head in denial. _'Damn it! The rain's messing with my sense of smell! I have to get closer to find out!'_

Soundlessly, I swiftly leapt out of my hiding spot and down onto one of the lower tree branches of the tree so I could get a little closer to the ground. After I was perched, I then sniffed the air again for the girls' scent. Suddenly, my eyes widened in disbelief. _'No way! She's a... half-demon! Like me_...' I thought with shock as I watched the girl continue to fight off the zombie down below on the muddy ground. Never in my entire nineteen years of life, have I _ever_ heard about or even _seen_ another half-demon besides me! It was like, _unheard_ of!

I quickly unhooked the radio from off of the right side my belt and then pressed the _'talk' _button that was on the side of it. "This is Inuyasha. I've found what triggered the alarm to go off." I stated in a low tone, trying to keep my voice out of hearing range so the girl wouldn't hear me.

_"And?"_ The voice from earlier replied smartly through the other end of the radio.

"It's some girl. She's being attacked by one of those dead-heads." I stated back.

_"So? Let the damn thing devour her for all I care!" _The person replied harshly.

"Her scent... smells that of a half-demons'." I quickly responded and then waited.

After a paused moment, the speaker on the other end of the radio responded again. _"Capture the girl and bring her back to the mansion. Make sure she is unharmed." _The person then ordered strictly.

"Got it." I responded and then latched the radio back onto my belt. When I turned my attention back down to the girl, I noticed that she had finally pinned the zombie down onto the ground. I didn't even notice that she had a large hunting knife in her hand--until she suddenly drove it into the front of the zombies' skull, killing it instantly. I was a bit surprised by her action, but shook it off as I watched then as the girl quickly scrambled away from the corpse and started to cry silently to herself.

I felt kind of sorry for the girl. She must've thought that she killed an innocent, living being. Well, the guy might've been innocent, but he was already dead--_way _before she stabbed him in the head! From my standards, I don't think she did anything wrong at all. Hell, she just put the damn thing out of its misery!

For a moment everything was quiet, except for the girls' quiet sobs and the rain drops splattering onto the trees' leaves and the ground. I then watched as the girl finally composed herself and stood up. She kept staring at the body and then whispered something to herself so low that I almost didn't hear her.

_"I just killed someone..."_

That's when I chose to make my presence known. "He was already dead to begin with." I answered as I watched how she quickly turned towards the sound of my voice.

_"WHO'S THERE?"_

I jumped off of the tree branch that I was perched on and soundlessly landed on the ground below, just a couple of feet away from the girl. I then quickly took note of her appearance. Although she was completely soaked and a little bit muddy, the only thing that really caught my attention was her unique aqua-colored eyes. I had never seen anyone with eyes of that color before and they were simply beautiful. Also, her scent smelled really good too. It reminded me of vanilla for some reason...

I mentally shook my head from any more thoughts and concentrated on my task. "I'm surprised you even made it this far." I mockingly stated while I started smirking. Yeah, I knew that I was acting like a major ass by saying that, but I had orders to follow. Besides, I act like an asshole to everybody 'cause it's just the way I am.

_"What do you mean? Who are you?"_

I knew that I'd get bitched at from wasting time by just standing around, so I chose to ignore the girls' questions. "You're coming with me. Cooperate or else I'll have to do so forcefully." I stated orderly.

_"Excuse me? Just who the hell do you think 'you' are bossing me around? I'm not going 'anywhere' with you, ASSHOLE!"_

_'Looks like I've pissed her off now!' _I thought with amusement while smirking even more as I noticed that the girl was glaring at me. _'This should be fun!' _I started cracking my knuckles in preparation for the fight that I knew was about to start. "Have it your way then, _wench_!" I called out as I suddenly lunged right for her...

**_(End of Inuyasha's POV)_**

* * *

Surprised by the sudden action, Kagome managed to quickly dodge and jump a couple of feet away from her attacker, just before his clawed hand could even make contact with her face. _'Why the hell is he attacking me?'_ She thought, feeling dumfounded as she kept her eyes on her attacker. She then suddenly sensed something peculiar._ 'Hey! He... he smells like a half-demon! Like me and Souta!' _

"You're quick," Inuyasha stated, still smirking as he flexed his claws. "But not quick enough!" He then lunged again at Kagome, but she kept evading his attacks. _'It seems like she's an experienced fighter.' _He thought to himself as his attempts at trying to "scare" her were becoming futile.

Trying another tactic, Inuyasha leapt into the air and just as he was descending down, getting ready to strike at Kagome again, she suddenly surprised him by quickly doing a back flip. He was unable to stop himself because of gravity and therefore resulted in getting kicked right in his face;_ hard_.

Inuyasha stumbled backwards and fell down right into a large mud puddle. "_Bitch_!" He angrily hissed under his breath, feeling humiliated as he picked himself up out of the muddy water. _'She's going to pay for that!' _He angrily thought as he glared at Kagome.

Kagome noticed that her attacker looked like he was ready to rip someone's head off. Despite her nervousness inside, she managed to keep an angry look upon her face. "Stay away from me! I'm warning you!" She threatened as she got into a fighting stance.

Inuyasha growled. "You'll pay for that, wench!" He smartly declared as he quickly lunged at Kagome. Since he was a little quicker this time, he managed to grab a hold of her and slammed her straight back into a nearby tree, which caused her to cry out in pain. He then firmly held her by the neck, but was careful not to let her suffocate.

_'Damn him!' _Kagome thought to herself as she tried to pry Inuyasha's hands off from around her neck. She could hardly breathe and her back was aching with pain. She then noticed that her attacker was smirking triumphantly, which caused her to start growling in anger. "You think... you're so... tough... picking on a girl!" She mocked as she struggled to speak. "You... must be... very proud... of yourself!"

Inuyasha's grip around Kagome's throat tightened even more as he growled and continued to smirk at Kagome. He then moved his face really close to hers, so that both of their noses were almost touching. "Ya know something? You're pretty smart-mouthed for a girl." He smartly stated in a low tone. "So, are you ready to give up yet or do I have to rough you up some more?"

Kagome was beyond pissed now. _'Just 'cause this jerk managed to catch me off guard and pin me against a tree, he thinks he's all superior and stuff!' _She angrily thought to herself as she continued to struggle against Inuyasha's hold. _'I don't have time for this shit! Mom's life is at stake and because of this ASSHOLE, she might be dead by now!'_ With that last thought, Kagome's blood boiled with rage and she could feel herself slowly starting to change. Her aqua-colored eyes were starting to tint red and her already sharp nails were starting to grow into longer, deadlier claws. _'I was always told to never let my demon side consume me, but in this case I'm making an exception!' _She thought angrily as she suddenly dug her sharp claws deep into her attacker's arms.

Inuyasha yelled out in pain and quickly let go of Kagome. He didn't even care that she had jumped away from him as he held onto one of his injured and bleeding arms. The wounds weren't too deep, but it still hurt like hell!

Kagome, who was situated a good distance away now, just continued to glare at Inuyasha with her now crimson colored eyes. "I warned you." She stated in a dangerously low tone. "Now, leave me alone."

_'How dare she!' _Inuyasha angrily thought as he too, started letting his demon side take over. His golden yellow eyes were now tinted red and his claws were as deadlier as ever. "You're going to regret ever messing with me, _bitch_!" He growled out as he angrily rushed at Kagome.

Kagome growled as she rushed towards Inuyasha as well. Just as he was about to slash her with his claws, she faked him out by ducking and quickly did a ground sweep with her left leg, causing him to fall onto the muddy ground. She then jumped a good distance away from him and waited.

Quickly recovering from the fall, Inuyasha picked himself up from off of the ground and turned around just in time to see Kagome tackle right into his chest. Once again, he was lying on his back on the muddy ground--only this time with the half-demon girl straddled on top of him, getting ready to strike him with her claws. Luckily he reacted quickly and tightly held both of her wrists away from him, but that only seemed to anger her more as she struggled to break free of his grasp so she could attack him.

As Inuyasha continued to wrestle Kagome's sharp claws away from his face, he couldn't help but notice how much more attractive she looked in her demon form. It's not that she wasn't attractive in her normal state; it's just that she looked... exotic in her demon state. Maybe it was just his primal demon instincts acting up...

_'Now's NOT the time to be thinking about THAT stuff!'_ Inuyasha mentally scolded to himself as he mentally shook all of those thoughts from his head. He then brought both of his feet up and somehow managed to push the enraged female half-demon off of him. He quickly scrambled up from off of the ground and then jumped back a couple of feet away from her.

Kagome wasn't prepared for what Inuyasha did and thus landed roughly on her backside. Ignoring the pain, she stood right back up and dashed towards Inuyasha, preparing to attack him again.

Inuyasha barely kept evading all of Kagome's attacks on him. He could tell that she was in a state of rage and wasn't really focusing, so when he had the opportunity, he kicked her in the back, which caused her to stumble forward and fall onto the muddy ground. "Are you ready to surrender _now_?" He smartly asked, feeling impatient. "Or do I have to--"

**_(BEEP! BEEP!) _**

The sound of Inuyasha's radio beeping suddenly caused both of the half-demons to momentarily pause.

_"Have you captured the girl yet?" _The person from earlier asked through the other end of the radio.

Inuyasha yanked the radio from off the side of his belt. "I'm working on it!" He smartly replied as he continued to dodge away from the persistent female half-demon.

_"Well, what the hell is taking so long?" _The person impatiently demanded.

"She's pissed and isn't giving up without a fight!" Inuyasha practically yelled into the radio as he quickly blocked a few punches away from his face.

_"Fine. I'm sending someone out to assist your weak ass, since you can't handle the girl."_ The person smartly stated.

"I CAN HANDLE THIS ON MY OWN, DAMN IT!" Inuyasha hollered at the radio, momentarily forgetting about the fight.

Taking advantage of the situation, Kagome quickly leapt over Inuyasha and landed right behind him. She immediately slashed her claws across his back, leaving him with four deep gashes. She then flipped backwards and jumped up onto a high tree branch in a nearby tree, waiting for his next move.

Inuyasha almost howled out in pain, but his pride wouldn't let him. Instead, he quickly clenched his jaw shut and balled both of his hands into fists at his sides. He then tightly closed his eyes and growled very loudly as his face contorted with a pained/angry expression. Blood was gushing out from the wounds on his back and staining his now torn green T-shirt. _'God DAMN IT, that fucking hurts!'_ He mentally yelled as he tried to ignore the searing pain by concentrating on his breathing.

Kagome continued to curiously observe Inuyasha from where she was perched up in the tree. _'What's he doing?' _She mentally questioned as she continued to watch the half-demon just stand there and do nothing except growl. Since his back was facing in her direction, she gasped when she finally took notice of how badly she had injured him. _'Oh my gosh! I didn't mean to hurt him THAT bad!'_ She thought, feeling very guilty now. Her crimson colored eyes suddenly changed back to their normal aqua color again and her claws shortened.

Keeping her eyes on Inuyasha the entire time, Kagome swiftly jumped out of the tree and landed flawlessly onto the muddy ground. She then slowly and cautiously started approaching him. "Hey, are you... ok?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

Inuyasha didn't respond, but instead stopped his growling. _'What the hell is she doing?' _He questioned himself, feeling confused as he changed back into his normal self once again. _'First she tries slicing me in half and now she's asking if I'm ok?' _By the sound of Kagome's footsteps in the mud, he could tell that she was approaching closer to him. He could also sense that she was no longer in her demon form.

Kagome was now about three feet away from Inuyasha. Just as she started to reach her hand out towards his back to get his attention, he suddenly started to dangerously growl again, warning her to stay away. She immediately froze and quickly withdrew her hand back down to her right side.

About a minute or two passed by and neither of the two half-demons moved or spoke--with the exception of Inuyasha still growling. The forest was still eerily silent as the rain continued to pour down upon the two teens. After about another minute, one of them finally spoke up.

"Listen, I'm... sorry for hurting you." Kagome quietly apologized. "Just... please leave me alone. I'm in a hurry to find my mother... Something happened to her and I have to get to the Shikon Corporation right away."

_'She's apologizing?' _Inuyasha thought, still confused. He knew that from the sound of her voice that she was sincere. _'What the--wait a minute. Did she just mention the Shikon Corporation?'_ Surprised, Inuyasha turned around to face Kagome, who was suddenly startled and backed away slightly. Just as he was about to say something to her, someone's voice suddenly cut in out of nowhere.

"There you are, _mutt-face_!" A males' voice called out from somewhere in the nearby forest. Suddenly, the figure sprinted out from the trees and stopped just a couple of feet away from the two half-demon teens. He had baby blue eyes and long black hair, which was put up into a high ponytail. His clothing was similar to Inuyasha's and he also wore a brown vest and had a camouflaged headband around his head as well. He also had some sort of small, metallic gun-like device latched onto the left side of his belt.

Inuyasha growled. "What the hell are you doing here, _Kouga_?" He demanded as he glared at the older, full-blooded demon.

"Sesshoumaru sent me of course, since you seem incapable of following orders!" Kouga smartly replied with a frown upon his face.

"I TOLD HIM I HAD THIS UNDER CONTROL!" Inuyasha angrily yelled, feeling annoyed and slightly embarrassed.

Kouga ignored Inuyasha's outburst and just chuckled as he observed some of the half-demon's wounds. "Well, it seems to me that you're getting your ass whooped by this _lovely_ female here." He stated as he nodded his head in Kagome's direction and then started checking her out.

Noticing Kouga's eyes scanning up and down her body, Kagome immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest and angrily glared at him. "Who the hell are you people and what the hell is going on here?" She demanded, getting fed up with both of the males.

"My apologies, Miss." Kouga politely replied. "My name is Kouga and this here is Inuyasha. We've been ordered to bring you back to our headquarters."

"Why?" Kagome bluntly demanded.

"I'm sorry, that's classified information." Kouga plainly stated. "Now please cooperate and come with us."

"LIKE HELL I WILL!" Kagome hollered as she suddenly sprinted off into the forest, not caring at the moment in which direction she was headed. Her first priority now was to ditch those guys!

Kagome was running as fast as her body would allow, while dodging trees and jumping over fallen logs. Not too far behind, she could hear the guys quickly catching up with her. _'Why are they trying to capture me? I didn't do anything wrong!' _She thought with frustration. There were so many emotions that she was feeling right now, that she felt like crying and shouting at the same time.

All of a sudden, Kouga--who was much faster than Inuyasha--had quickly jumped right in front of Kagome's path, causing her to run right into his chest. Before she even had the chance to react, he firmly grabbed her by the arms, to prevent her from fleeing again.

"LET GO OF ME!" Kagome shouted as she tried to wriggle free of Kouga's grasp. Somehow, she managed to free her right arm and then immediately punched him in the face.

"SHIT!" Kouga shouted as he quickly let go of Kagome, who immediately took off running again. He hunched over slightly and held his now bloody, broken nose.

Before Kagome even managed to run ten feet away, she was suddenly tackled from behind by Inuyasha. They had both landed roughly onto the ground, which resulted in both teens getting the wind knocked out of their lungs. After being momentarily stunned, Kagome quickly recovered her breathing and then tried to get up, but found that she was being forcefully pinned down. She screamed and started to violently kick and thrash about, trying to get Inuyasha off of her, but he was using all of his weight and strength to hold her down.

"Hold her down, Inuyasha!" Kouga shouted as he started making his way over towards the two, while still holding onto his broken nose with his left hand. He then unlatched the metallic gun-like device from off the side of his belt and quickly loaded it with a small, red tranquilizer dart that he had retrieved from his pants pocket.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do, _idiot_!" Inuyasha shouted back as he continued to struggle with the violent female half-demon. Taking a risky chance, he quickly grabbed a hold of both of her flailing arms and then held them firmly behind her back.

Realizing that her attempts at trying to escape were futile, Kagome's fear got the best of her and she started screaming at the top of her lungs, thus causing both of the guys to wince. She knew that even if she somehow gotten out of Inuyasha's hold, Kouga would probably just out-run her again and there was no way that she would be able to fight both of them at the same time.

"HURRY UP, WILL YA!" Inuyasha shouted impatiently. He felt like both of his ears were going to explode because of Kagome's continuous loud screaming.

Kouga finally made it over to the pair and then aimed the tranquilizer gun down towards Kagome's exposed left shoulder. Not wasting another minute, he pulled the trigger and the dart quickly shot out, imbedding itself right into the targeted area of her skin.

In a matter of seconds, Kagome immediately stopped her screaming and struggling as she suddenly started to feel really lightheaded and tired. Soon her vision started blurring and the voices around her sounded muffled as well. As she started to loose consciousness, she suddenly pictured the faces of her family members, all together and smiling happily...

...and that was the last thing Kagome thought of before she completely passed out.

* * *

As soon as Inuyasha felt the girl's body go limp, he cautiously let go of her arms and then got off of her and stood up. As he stared down at her unconscious form, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. If only she hadn't triggered off that security alarm, this situation would never have happened. Then again, she shouldn't have been in the forest anyway--especially with all of the freakish beings roaming around. Suddenly, he remembered what the girl had told him earlier, about finding her mother at the Shikon Corporation. Many questions soon began popping up in his mind as he wondered about the girl. Was she some sort of spy working for another company? How did she even know about the corporation's location in the first place? Was her mother a prisoner or one of the scientists at the facility?

If the girl was really telling the truth about finding her mother, then her efforts were for nothing. Inuyasha knew for a fact that _all_ of the humans at the mansion and in the labs were all dead--well, now the _undead _to be exact.

"Hey, _mutt-face_! Quit day-dreaming will ya and hand me your radio!" Kouga smartly snapped, bringing Inuyasha out of his thoughts as he threw the empty tranquilizer gun down onto the muddy ground, while still clutching his broken nose.

Inuyasha mumbled a few curses as he hastily grabbed his radio from off the side of his belt and then threw it over to Kouga, who caught it with his unoccupied hand.

"Sesshoumaru, we've detained the girl." Kouga stated as he tilted his head up towards the sky so the rain could rinse away some of the blood from off of his face.

_"Good." _Sesshoumaru responded through the other end of the radio, sounding pleased. _"Take her down to the prison and lock her up in one of the holding cells." _Then his voice became sterner. _"When you're done, the both of you report to my office." _

"Yes sir." Kouga orderly responded back. He then tossed the radio back over to Inuyasha and glared at him.

Inuyasha caught the radio and tucked it back onto his belt, all the while noticing Kouga's glare. "What the hell's your problem?" He then smartly asked, while glaring back as well.

"The fact that I had to come all the way out here to help your sorry ass--on _my_ break--because you couldn't capture a female half-demon really _pisses _me off!" Kouga loudly replied, his voice filled with annoyance. "_Plus_, I got my nose broken in the process! Thanks a lot, _shit-head_!"

Inuyasha growled. "It's not _my_ fault she broke your damn nose! And besides, I didn't know she knew how to fight! So, shut the fuck up and quit your damn whining!" He shouted back as he crossed his arms stubbornly in front of his chest.

The two of them continued to glare and growl at each other for about another minute until Kouga finally spoke up. "C'mon, we're wasting time and I don't wanna piss your brother off anymore than he already is." He stated, feeling annoyed as he turned around and started sprinting back towards the mansion. "You carry the girl!" He then called back over his shoulder.

Inuyasha continued to glare at Kouga's retreating form, all the while carefully picking up the unconscious girl, bridal-style. He then sprinted off towards the mansion as well.

* * *

A tall man in his late twenties sat in his black leather office chair, which was currently facing towards the large window that was situated on the wall behind the expensive cherry wood desk that had a computer, a small green desk lamp and many vanilla colored folders and other papers neatly stacked upon its surface. A black hand-held radio was also situated on the desk as well.

The room was of a decent size for an office. The flooring was made up of red Berber and the walls were cream colored with an oak border that ran along the top. There were two large oak bookshelves situated against the walls on the east and west side of the room, which had many books about world history, genetics, chemicals, weapons, etc. There were also a few pictures and certification plaques that were situated on all of the walls as well.

The man sitting in the leather chair had long, neatly brushed silver white hair and seemingly cold, golden yellow eyes. On both sides of his cheeks, were two purple colored strips as well as on both of his wrists. In the middle of his forehead, was a dark purple colored crescent moon. He also wore a black business suit, complete with a red silk tie and shiny black loafers.

The man just continued to sit in his comfortable leather chair, with his arms folded in a lazy manor as he stared out the window at the gloomy, dark sky. The rain continued to pour heavily down upon the earth and the low rumbling of thunder sounding off in the distance could be heard. The man pleasantly enjoyed this setting. If fact, it made him feel very calm and relaxed... until a sudden knock at his office door interrupted his peace.

"Come in." The man plainly responded, with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

The door then opened and in walked a short old man, who looked to be in his late fifties. He had bulging yellow-green eyes and his wrinkly skin was slightly tinted with a pea green color. He also wore a brown business suit, brown loafers and a black round cap on his almost bald head.

With the support of a tall wooden cane with two weird looking faces carved into the top of it, the little old man hobbled over to the front of the cherry wood desk, while holding a large yellow folder with the words, _"CLASSIFIED" _written in red lettering on the front. "Here are the report files for Project # 26 that you wanted, m'Lord." The little man beamed cheerfully.

"Just leave them on my desk." The man replied unemotionally, still looking out the window.

The little old man did as he was instructed to do and placed the folder on top of the desk. "Is there anything else that you wanted m'Lord?" He then cheerfully asked.

"No. That is all for now, Jaken." The man replied unemotionally.

Suddenly, the office door busted opened and in walked Inuyasha, with Kouga trailing behind him.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Jaken angrily squawked as he hobbled over to the two and suddenly smacked his wooden cane upside Inuyasha's head. "You're supposed to _KNOCK_ before entering Lord Sesshoumaru's office!" He then smacked the half-demon again, this time across his injured back.

Inuyasha growled and hastily grabbed the old man's cane, throwing it down onto the floor a few feet away. "CUT THAT OUT, DAMN IT!" He angrily shouted back as he glared at the old man, who was mumbling curses as he went to retrieve his cane from off of the floor.

"Acting your age I see." Sesshoumaru mocked as he continued to look out the window at the sky.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha asked, ignoring his older half-brother's remark.

Sesshoumaru slowly turned the chair around to its normal position at the desk and faced Inuyasha and Kouga. "Has the girl been properly secured?" He then asked in an orderly tone.

Kouga finally walked over and stood to the left side of Inuyasha. "Yes. She's in Cell # 3." He stated in an informative tone. "I've told Maten to keep a close eye on her as well."

"Good." Sesshoumaru replied, sounding pleased. "You are dismissed."

Kouga nodded and then proceeded to exit the office room.

_'What a suck up!' _Inuyasha annoyingly thought to himself as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He then looked up at his brother with an annoyed expression on his face, who in return met his expression with an emotionless one.

For a moment, neither brother said anything or even moved. Surprisingly, Jaken stayed quiet, too as he observed both brothers from his position across the room.

Finally, Sesshoumaru was the first to break the silence. "Why were you not able to capture the girl on your own?" He plainly asked. "After all, you said that she was a half-demon like yourself, so it shouldn't have been a difficult task."

"I didn't know she could fight and I wasn't prepared." Inuyasha grudgingly admitted, looking annoyed still.

"You should know better than to _never_ let your guard down--no matter what." Sesshoumaru stated coolly as he leaned back in his chair and glared at his younger half-brother. After a brief pause, he continued. "_Don't_ let it happen again. Next time I won't be as forgiving."

"Yeah." Inuyasha bluntly responded as he quickly averted his brother's intimidating gaze and looked down at the floor.

There was an awkward silence for a moment until Sesshoumaru decided to speak again. "Did the girl by any chance mention as to why she was in the forest?"

Inuyasha looked up at his brother with an unemotional face. "No." He plainly lied.

Sesshoumaru did not reply, for he seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "Tell Kouga that when the girl wakes up, he's to interrogate her and find out everything she knows." He then ordered.

Inuyasha suddenly had an idea. "Shouldn't I be the one to interrogate the girl instead?" He asked, trying to sound as normal as possible. "After all, Kouga's on his break and--"

"No." Sesshoumaru bluntly stated. "What makes you think that she'll actually talk to _you_? Besides, Kouga's experienced with interrogations."

Inuyasha did not respond for the mere fact that if he did, his brother would probably become suspicious of his sudden interest in the girl.

Seeing that his younger brother had nothing more to say, Sesshoumaru sat upright in his chair and propped both of his elbows on top of the desk. "Give Kouga my orders, then report back to your post."

Inuyasha just nodded his head, while keeping a straight face. He then exited his brother's study to go find Kouga.

Sesshoumaru just continued to sit in his chair, deep in thought. _'Hmm, a young half-demon girl... I wonder if that's possibly the daughter of father's old friend...' _

Seeing the disturbed look on his Lords' face, Jaken carefully hobbled over to the desk. "My Lord, is something the matter?" He concernly asked.

"Jaken, bring me the profile of a past employee named Dr. Higurashi." Sesshoumaru orderly stated.

"Dr. Higurashi?" Jaken asked sounding surprised. "Wasn't that man a close friend of your father's?"

"Yes." Sesshoumaru plainly stated. "I have a feeling that that half-demon girl is his daughter."


	4. Prisoner

**Chapter 4: "Prisoner"**

* * *

**_(Dream Sequence) _**

There was nothing but darkness all around her. This unknown black void in which Kagome was trapped in was soundless, empty and cold. There was nothing to touch, not even solid ground.

"Can anybody hear me!" Kagome called out, her voice echoing throughout the nothingness that surrounded her. "Please... someone... I'm scared!" She then curled up into a fetal position, feeling lost and afraid.

All of a sudden, the faint sound of a woman softly humming filled Kagome's ears. It sounded far away, but it seemed to be getting louder and louder. She looked all around her to try and find the source of the humming, but found no one. Suddenly, there was bright flash of light which engulfed her. The light was so bright that she had to shield her eyes.

When Kagome opened her eyes again, she found herself standing next to a large three-tiered water fountain, which was in the center of what appeared to be some sort of a large garden. Beautiful flowers of all different kinds and colors were flourished all around her. Birds were cheerfully singing in nearby trees and the sunshine above was bright and warm.

Kagome stood in awe as she looked at the scenery all around her. Suddenly, she heard the humming again. "Hello? Is someone there?" She called out, while following the gray cobblestone path towards where she thought the humming was coming from. As she rounded a corner on the path, she suddenly saw a figure of a woman up ahead standing a couple of yards away. The woman's back was facing towards her as she continued to hum her soothing, tuneless melody.

"Um, excuse me ma'am," Kagome sheepishly asked, feeling curious. "But where am I?"

Suddenly, the woman stopped her humming and slowly turned around and smiled warmly. She looked no older than thirty and had short wavy black hair and lovely brown eyes. She was wearing a long, plain yellow sundress and white sandals.

Kagome gasped. _'She looks just like mama, only younger!'_ She thought to herself, feeling shocked. "Mom? Is that... you?" She then quietly asked, feeling unsure.

Without saying a word, the woman just kept smiling as she suddenly turned back around and started walking away.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Kagome called out to the woman as she started to jog after her. As she kept following the woman, the weather started to drastically change. The sunny sky above was now covered with dark gray clouds and it was starting to rain. The once beautiful flowers were now dead and wilted, leaving only dry brown roots sticking out of the ground. Strong gusts of wind were wildly blowing Kagome's hair all around her face as she still tried to catch up to the woman, who seemed to be far ahead of her.

Finally, the woman stopped walking and stood in front of a very large round pond fountain that was surrounded by a gray thick-cemented railing. A large, weird looking statue of a serpent was connected to the railing as well, which was directly in front of her. The woman then turned around and faced Kagome with a sad expression on her face.

Kagome stopped within just a few feet away from the woman and just looked at her with a puzzled look upon her face. "What's the matter? Why are we here?" She asked, feeling confused.

The woman said nothing as she slowly bowed her head down and slumped her shoulders a bit. Some of her hair was covering her face, making it difficult to see her face. The woman then started to quietly sob to herself.

Kagome felt sorry for the woman. She then slowly started to extend her right hand out towards the woman's left shoulder, to try to comfort her.

Suddenly, the woman looked up at Kagome with a blank stare. Her eyes were no longer brown, instead they were blank white and unfocused. Her exposed skin had changed from a healthy peach color to a now deathly pale tint. Pieces of rotten flesh started peeling off from her face and some of her hair was falling off as well.

Kagome's eyes widened in fear and she quickly withdrew her hand back. She was so frightened at the scene before her, that she was unable to move from her spot.

Without warning, the zombified woman moaned and then quickly lunged straight for Kagome.

**_(End of Dream Sequence) _**

* * *

Kagome's eyes suddenly shot open and she started breathing heavily. _'It... it was just a dream!' _She thought, while letting out a sigh of relief. She then slowly sat up from where she was lying and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She then rested her head on the tops of her knees, thinking about the dream she just had. _'Was that really mom?' _She mentally questioned herself. _'Was she... trying to tell me something?' _

Shaking her head slightly to clear her mind, Kagome then looked up and finally took notice of her surroundings. "Huh? Where am I!" She asked out loud to herself as her face then contorted into a disgusted expression. The room in which she was in was very small-roughly estimated about 7' by 10'. The entire room was made up of thick, gray concrete, including the ceiling which had a small dim light in the center. The walls and floor were especially dirty; stained with streaks of dirt, grease and what appeared to be splotches of old, dried blood in certain places. In the right corner of the room was an old rusted porcelain sink that had water continuously dripping out of its broken faucet. Next to the sink was also a rusted porcelain toilet that had disgusting, unknown stains all over the lid and seat, as well as inside the bowl. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a single, dirt encrusted mattress-which Kagome was currently sitting on-that was placed against the wall across from the toilet and sink. Lastly, a thick metallic door, that had a tiny barred window in the center at eye level, was the only way that led out of the horrifying room.

Taking in her new surroundings, Kagome immediately came to the conclusion of where she was-a prison cell. At first, she was confused and scared as to why she would be in such a place, but then memories from what happened earlier started making their way back into her mind again. "Those bastards!" She angrily hissed under her breath, feeling outraged. She then became aware of a slight stinging sensation on the back of her left shoulder. Moving that shoulder forward a bit, she then curiously craned her neck to the left side to see what was causing the pain, but the only thing that she found was just a tiny speck of dried blood on the sore spot. _'What did they do to me?' _She wondered to herself as she lightly placed her right hand onto the stinging spot of her shoulder. The last thing that she could remember before she passed out, was that she had been pinned to the ground by that Inuyasha guy. After that, she didn't know-which sort of freaked her out.

Trying to keep calm, Kagome started to inhale deeply, but suddenly started coughing and gagging. _'Man, this place stinks!' _She thought to herself as she quickly covered both of her hands over her nose and mouth. The overall stench in the cell was horrendous: it smelled damp and musty, with a hint of an unknown foul scent that lingered in the air as well.

A thought suddenly crossed Kagome's mind as she continued to observe her surroundings. _'Someone probably died in here...'_ With that thought, she instantly jumped up from off of the bed and started to furiously wipe at her clothing. _'Eww! This is just too sick! I have to get out of here!' _She then practically ran to the door and searched for the handle, but suddenly realized that it was missing. "What the!" She mumbled out loud, feeling dumbfounded. The metallic door was just plain and solid, with no indication that there was ever a handle in the first place.

Kagome just shrugged. _'Oh well. Guess I'll just have to break it down then!' _She thought to herself as she backed up a couple of feet and then quickly rushed at the door, ramming her right shoulder into it.

**_(BAM!) _**

Kagome stumbled back from the impact and then frowned. She had caused no damage whatsoever to the door: not even a dent had been made. Shaking her head, Kagome backed up once more and then rushed at the door again, this time with much more force.

**_(BAM!)_**

Again, no damage. As a last attempt to free herself of the disgusting prison cell, Kagome grabbed a hold of the barred window and started pulling with all her might. "Grrr, OPEN YOU STUPID DOOR!" She yelled with frustration as she continued to pull with all her strength, which caused her face to turn really red from her attempt.

After a few minutes of trying to pry open the door, Kagome finally gave up and then rested her forehead against the cold, metallic door while breathing heavily. "Damn it!" She quietly said to herself, feeling completely drained of her energy. She then weakly punched the door out of frustration as tears started to well up in her eyes. _'I'll never get out of here now...' _She depressingly thought as she slowly slumped down onto the cemented floor and curled up into a fetal position, quietly sobbing herself to an uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

_About an hour later..._

Upon hearing some muffled voices off in the distance, Kagome slowly opened her tired eyes and sat up. She couldn't exactly understand what the voices were saying, but could tell that they were getting closer. Curious, she then stood up and peered out of the barred window to take a look around outside of her cell.

It appeared to be some sort of small hallway. There were three other metallic cell doors that were across from her, all marked with a different number above the door. She noticed that she was directly across from the second cell, so therefore assumed that she was in the middle cell on her side. She also noticed that beside each of the cells' door, was a little keypad with a card slot next to it. Also, the only way to access the dead-end hallway was through a large set of double steel doors at the one end.

The voices now sounded like they were just outside of the large double steel doors. Kagome started to feel nervous and scared inside as she heard the loud screeching sound of the doors being opened. Her eyes frantically scanned the tiny cell for a place she could hide, but knew there was nothing. As the sound of boots loudly made their way towards her cell, Kagome quickly moved away from the barred window and stood off to the left side in the corner, nervously waiting for the person to arrive.

* * *

_A few minutes earlier..._

After receiving his orders a couple of hours ago, Kouga assumed that the half-demon girl was probably awake by now, so he was currently making his way down to the prison. To be more specific, he was heading towards the specialized holding cell area, which was where all the 'hostile' prisoners would be securely placed.

Oddly, the prison facilities were located underneath the foundation of the Mansion. The only way to gain access to the prison was through a set of locked iron doors that were located behind the grand staircase in the main foyer of the Mansion. From there, you then had to walk down a long flight of steep stairs just to reach another set of doors-which required a key card and pass code-and _then_ you were there.

Along the way through the prison, Kouga had met up with a large, chunky demon named Manten, who was in charge of guarding the underground prison facilities. He was completely bald and had green eyes, and he also wore a similar green outfit like Kouga and Inuyasha.

After Kouga had explained his orders, Manten led him to the area where the girl was being held, then left to attend other matters.

Kouga opened the double set of steel doors and started making his way down the short hallway. He then came to an abrupt stop once he reached the door to cell 3. He peered through the tiny barred window and noticed that the half-demon girl was nowhere in sight. A quick scent check assured him that she was still in there; probably off to the side of the door he guessed. He cleared his throat and then began to speak. "Excuse me Miss, but I'd like you to answer a few questions for me." He politely stated as he stood there and waited for a response.

After a moment of silence, Kagome finally spoke up. "What do you want?" She replied harshly as she slowly stepped out of her hiding place and stood in front of the door, glaring at Kouga.

"First off," Kouga replied casually, trying to ignore the look that Kagome was giving him. "Can you please tell me your name?"

"No." Kagome stated coldly. "Now let me out of here."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." Kouga stated with an apologetic look on his face. After a silenced moment, he then resumed with asking another question. "Why were you out in the forest? Citizens were strictly told not to even enter the mountains."

Kagome chose to ignore Kouga's question. Instead, she turned around and walked towards the middle of her cell and then sat down onto the floor with her back facing him, continuing to not respond to any more of his questions.

* * *

_Midnight__, Somewhere on the 2nd floor in the Mansion… _

A few hours had gone by and Inuyasha had just been recently relieved of his watch duty. He was now currently in the shower, washing away all the dried blood and dirt from his hair and body, from which he acquired earlier in the day.

Speaking of earlier, Inuyasha's thoughts kept going back to that half-demon girl. Was she really telling the truth about trying to find her mother? Or was she really a spy or something working for another company?

About ten minutes later, Inuyasha stepped out of the shower and quickly dried himself off with a towel. He then walked over to his room, which was connected to the small bathroom, and went over to his dresser and got out some new clothes to wear. He put on a pair of black boxers, white boot-length socks, another pair of dark green cargo pants and a tight black muscle shirt. Lastly, he put his hair back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck.

Inuyasha's room was located down a deserted hallway on the second floor of the mansion, which was just fine for him because he didn't like associating with the others, unless he had to. His room wasn't very big, but there was just enough room for his single bed _(complete with a plain tan comforter and a white pillow)_, a small walk-in closet with some empty hangers, a wooden dresser that had a few articles of clothing inside and an oak desk that had a computer, an ordinary desk lamp and his black hand-held radio on the surface. There were also a few music cd's and computer games as well.

Inuyasha walked over to his bed and plopped down onto his back, staring at the ceiling. _'I've got to get out of here!'_ He declared mentally. _'This is NOT how I want to spend the rest of my life-guarding some twisted Mansion that has walking corpses stinking up the place... it's not normal! I feel like a damn prisoner!' _

In a way, the few people who resided in the mansion-who were still alive of course-were sort of like prisoners. Each person, including Inuyasha, had their own reasons as to why they were forced to work for the Shikon Corporation.

Inuyasha rolled over onto his left side and stared at the wall in front of him. _'Sesshoumaru said I could leave whenever I wanted to, but then he'd-'_ He was unable to even finish that thought. Instead, he tightly clenched his right hand out of anger, which caused his sharp nails to puncture the inside of his palm, thus causing droplets of blood to form. _'I hate that bastard!'_ Clearing his head immediately of everything at that moment, Inuyasha sighed and closed his tired eyes. He felt exhausted and was relieved that he now could finally get some rest...

**_(BEEP! BEEP!) _**

Inuyasha groaned in frustration as he rolled off of his bed and slowly started making his way over towards the desk. He then hastily grabbed the radio and responded. "What is it now?" He grumpily replied while rubbing his tired eyes with the back of his hand.

_"I need you to interrogate the girl for me."_ Sesshoumaru stated with annoyance through the radio. _"Now." _

Inuyasha suddenly didn't feel all that tired anymore. "Can't it wait 'till morning? Besides, I thought it was Kouga's job to interrogate her." Inuyasha replied, trying to sound like he was still annoyed.

_"The girl won't answer any of his questions and I'm starting to loose my patience!"_ Sesshoumaru declared with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Fine, I'm going now. I'll report back if I find out anything."Inuyasha stated, ending the conversation. He then tucked the radio onto the right side of his belt and walked over to retrieve his combat boots and then started to lace them up. _'Now I can finally talk to that girl and find out what's going on!' _He thought to himself as he finally exited his room.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Inuyasha had finally made it down to the prison. He really hated going down there, but he knew that that's where the girl was being held-as well as a bunch of zombies. He didn't know why the zombies were kept locked up, but if it were up to him though, he would've destroyed all of them and burned their bodies-including the Mansion and everything else as well.

As Inuyasha ventured down a narrow, damp corridor of the prison, he suddenly gagged. The air down in the prison reeked so heavily with the stench of the undead, that he had to quickly cover his hand over his mouth and nose in order to prevent from throwing up. After he composed himself, he continued walking.

About a minute later, Inuyasha reached the double steel doors that led to the holding cells area. Just as he was about to open the double doors, a voice suddenly erupted from down the hall.

"Well, if it isn't the little half-breed!" Manten, the older, bald-headed demon sneered. "What brings your worthless hide down here?"

Inuyasha turned and angrily glared at Manten. "Why do _you_ care, _fat-ass_!" He smartly replied. "Why don't you go back and play with your stupid little _pets_!"

Manten shook with anger and stomped over towards Inuyasha. "I'm ordered to guard this area and it's _MY_ job to find out what little _PRICKS_ like you are doing down here!" He spat angrily in the younger half-demon's face. "And what I do with the zombies is none of your damn business!" He then roughly shoved Inuyasha backwards so hard that he slammed into the nearby wall.

Inuyasha angrily growled and quickly stomped back over to Manten and then tightly grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Don't mess with me, asshole-I'm not in the mood!" He angrily yelled as he roughly let go of him. "Sesshoumaru sent me, so fuck off!"

Manten just glared back at Inuyasha and said nothing. Instead, he turned around and quickly strode back down the long hallway in which he came from, all the while mumbling curses under his breath.

Once Manten was finally out of sight, Inuyasha turned back to the double steel doors and opened them. He then closed the doors behind him and slowly started walking down the empty, cold hallway. When he finally reached Cell 3, he halted and just stood there for a moment. Although it sounded faint and muffled, it seemed like the girl was sniffling, as if she had been crying. Inuyasha curiously peered through the barred window and found that the girl was sitting on the floor in the middle of the tiny cell with her knees up to her chest. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and she had her forehead resting on the tops of her knees.

Inuyasha just continued to stand there, feeling awkward as to what he should do, all the while inhaling the girls' wonderful, calming scent which seemed to over-power the stale stench of death that was in that area. But then he suddenly caught a whiff of another scent that seemed to linger in that area as well.

But before Inuyasha even had the chance to start growling, the girl suddenly became aware of his presence and quickly turned around and looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

* * *

_**(Kagome's POV) **A few minutes earlier..._

I was glad that the demon named _Kouga_ had finally left. Even though he was being very polite to me, I still refused to answer any of his questions. After all, why should I? Those guys basically kidnapped me and threw me into a prison cell for no reason at all! I didn't do anything wrong! There was no _"Private Property"_ or other signs indicating that I was trespassing or whatever, so what right do these assholes have into treating me like I'm a criminal!

"_They _should be the ones answering _MY_ questions..." I mumbled angrily, not realizing that I had said that out loud while I crossed both of my arms in front of my chest. Suddenly, I heard the screeching sound of the large doors being opened and then the sounds of heavy footsteps making their way towards my cell. _'It's probably Kouga again, wanting to ask me more questions…_' I thought to myself as I patiently waited while still sitting in the same position on the floor from earlier.

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped right outside my cell door. "My, my, look what we have here!" An unknown male's voice mocked playfully. "What's a pretty, young half-demon doing all by herself in a place like this?"

I quickly whipped my head around to see who was talking to me. When I looked up, I saw some guy's ugly face looking at me through the barred window, with a lustful look in his blue eyes. He also stunk badly, like he hadn't bathed in a long time. I instantly felt panicked, but tried to calm down so that guy wouldn't sense that I was afraid of him. Instead, I just glared at him with pure hatred in my eyes.

"Why don't I come in there and keep you company?" The hefty demon offered as he licked his thin lips. "You look like you're cold… and I know just how to warm you up!"

"Leave me alone, you disgusting pig!" I venomously spat as I continued to glare at him.

"Ooh, a feisty little vixen, aren't you?" The guy replied with a smirk on his face. He then reached over to his left and started punching in a few digits on the key pad.

Now I _really_ started to panic. "What are you doing!" I demanded as I quickly stood up and started backing away from the door. "If you open that door, I'll kill you!"

The guy just chuckled to himself. "You'll be mine in a few seconds, my dear! And there's nothing you can do about it!" He stated victoriously as he searched his pants pockets for his key card.

Suddenly, we both heard the faint sound of footsteps off in the distance somewhere. The demon guy paused and he displayed an annoyed expression on his face as he started cursing under his breath. He then looked over at me once more. "Don't worry, I'll return for you later, my pet!" He stated in a low, husky tone and then quickly headed down the small hall towards the double steel doors.

Once I heard the guy exit through the large doors, I took in a quick, deep breath to try to calm my nerves down. _'Thank God for small miracles!'_ I thought gratefully to myself as I sat back down onto the floor again. I was so scared at the moment that my entire body was shaking and I could actually feel how wildly my heart was beating. I then brought my shaky knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms protectively around my legs. _'What am I going to do now! I can't get out of this cell and that PERVERT is going to…' _I couldn't and didn't even want to finish that thought. Tears started quickly trailing down my cheeks before I even became aware of the fact that I was actually crying.

As I sat on the floor and continued to cry silently to myself, I could faintly hear the sound of people starting to argue from the opposite side of the large double steel doors. Suddenly, the arguing stopped and I could hear the sound of somebody walking away. After a few seconds, I heard the large doors being opened and then closed, followed by the sound of footsteps slowly heading back towards my cell.

_'Oh God, PLEASE don't let that disgusting pervert near me!'_ I silently started to pray as I leaned my head down onto the tops of my knees and quickly shut my tear-filled eyes. I felt as helpless and scared as a child-it was pathetic.

I was so caught up in my thoughts to realize that the footsteps had already stopped outside of my cell a few seconds ago. Suddenly, I sensed a familiar scent, which smelled a little spicy mixed with the scent of the outdoors. Quickly, I looked up and turned around and saw that Inuyasha guy staring at me through the barred window with a zoned-out look on his face. Even though I was surprised, I unknowingly let out a small sigh of relief. At that moment, I felt like suddenly hugging him because I was so relieved that it wasn't that fat pervert.

**_(End of Kagome's POV) _**

* * *

For a moment, neither teen said anything. They just continued to stare at each other, both of them wondering what they should say to the other.

Finally, Inuyasha was the first to speak. "What happened here?" He sternly asked, portraying an irritated/angry expression on his face. He had caught the frightened and relieved look in Kagome's eyes when she had first looked up at him, and what concerned him the most was that he could smell Manten's scent heavily lingering in that area.

Kagome wiped her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hands. "Some _pervert _came here a few minutes ago and was about to come into my cell, but then left after he heard someone coming." She said in a quiet tone as she looked down to the ground in front of her and nervously fiddled with her hands.

From the way that Kagome was acting, Inuyasha could tell that she was holding something back. "What did he say to you?" He then sternly asked as he watched her fidget uncomfortably on the ground.

Kagome hesitated for a moment, feeling slightly embarrassed as she continued to stare down at the ground. "He basically implied that he was going to come in here and… and…" She trailed off shaking her head, unable to finish her sentence. Her face then contorted with a worried/angry expression as she continued. "Before that sick _bastard _left, he told me that he would just return later on."

Inuyasha instantly felt anger boiling inside of him, which was expressed on his face as well. He knew what kind of a nasty, sick demon Manten was-everyone at the Mansion knew. The guy had some kind of fetish with messing with the prisoners, whether they were alive or the undead. For the living prisoners, _(which there are none now, except for Kagome)_ he would torture them endlessly-both physically and mentally-until they eventually died or were killed by him. As for the undead prisoners… only one could guess as to what he does with them.

Again, there was an awkward silence between both of the teens. _'I'll take care of that fat-ass later,'_ Inuyasha mentally declared, trying his best to calm down. _'Right now, I've got to interrogate the girl before I get bitched at.'_ He then looked back down at Kagome, who was still looking down at the floor in silence, and crossed his arms in annoyance. "Listen girl, I'm supposed to ask you a bunch of questions," Inuyasha stated in his normal, gruff tone. "So, let's just get this over with so I can go back to sleep." For some reason, he really liked getting on everyone's nerves-especially with this girl. She seemed to be as quick-tempered as he was.

Kagome looked up and glared at Inuyasha. "I'm not answering anything until someone lets me out of here!" She loudly stated as she crossed her arms in front of her chest as well. "And my name is _'Kagome'_-not _'girl'_!"

Inuyasha smirked slightly. _'Ha! She told me her name! Pshh, shows how much Kouga and Sesshoumaru know about interrogations!'_ He thought smugly and then glared at Kagome with an annoyed expression. "You know something? You're really starting to piss me off." He stated in an annoyed tone.

Kagome snorted. "Oh well. Deal with it." She smartly replied back as she turned her head to look away from Inuyasha and then lifted her chin up in a snobbish way.

Inuyasha smirked with amusement. "You sure act lady-like, don't ya?" He replied in a teasing manner.

Kagome decided to just ignore Inuyasha's smart remark and then looked back over at him. "Why did you capture me!" She suddenly demanded, raising her voice a bit. "And don't tell me that it's _'classified'_ either! I have a right to know, damn it!" She looked straight into Inuyasha's eyes, with a demanding and almost pleading look.

Inuyasha hesitated for a moment and then replied. "I... really don't know why. I was just ordered to." He replied honestly with a frown upon his face.

Kagome sighed and lowered her head down slightly. "So, I assume I won't be getting out of here anytime soon, right?" She sarcastically asked in a quiet, defeated tone.

Inuyasha didn't respond. He knew that she probably would never leave this place again-well, alive at least. He truly did feel sorry for Kagome, for the fact that she was an innocent person and didn't deserve to be in such an awful place to begin with.

Taking Inuyasha's silence as a 'yes', Kagome sighed again. "That's what I thought." She mumbled depressingly to herself.

About a minute of silence passed by until Inuyasha finally spoke again. "You told me earlier that you were trying to find your mother," He started to ask in an unusually quiet tone. "Did she work for the Shikon Corporation?"

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha with an unreadable expression. "Yes, but I'm not sure what she does exactly… she never told me. Anyway, she left my brother and me about four years ago and I haven't talked to her since yest-what do you mean _'did'_?" She suddenly cut herself off in mid-sentence, sounding confused.

Inuyasha suddenly looked away from Kagome, not wanting to see her reaction after what he was about to tell her. After a hesitant moment, he spoke. "I hate to be the one to tell you this," He said in a soft, low voice. "But I think your mother is dead."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock and she was speechless. It felt like someone had just stabbed her in the heart, with all the pain that she was suddenly feeling. She shook her head in denial; not wanting to believe what Inuyasha had said was true. _'Mom CAN'T be dead! I just talked to her the other day!' _She thought, feeling upset with mixed emotions. "YOU'RE LYING!" She then hollered angrily as she quickly stood up and glared hatefully at the other half-demon.

"Look, _all_ of the humans here at the facility are all _DEAD_!" Inuyasha rudely stated rather loudly, but then instantly regretted saying what he said-even though it was too late. He didn't mean to sound so cruel-it's just that his emotions got the better of him.

Just as Inuyasha was about to apologize for his actions, Kagome quickly intervened. "What do you mean! What happened!" She angrily demanded as she desperately tried to prevent herself from crying over the harsh outburst from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked straight into Kagome's teary, emotional eyes and could tell that she wanted to cry and kill someone at the same time-most likely him. Yet for some reason deep down, he knew that she would never hurt him _(with the exception of their little brawl earlier that day)_ and felt like he could trust her with anything-even with his life-but he knew that if he were to tell her what happened, he'd be in _major_ shit and would probably be killed. _'Screw it. Sesshoumaru will probably kill me eventually anyway so to hell with it!'_ He thought to himself and then sighed out loud. "All right, I'll tell you. There was an accident a couple of days ago somewhere in the Corporation's laboratory. A virus, which only affects humans through physical contact, leaked throughout the entire lab facilities." Inuyasha stated in a low, informative tone as he paused for a second. "I don't know exactly how everyone died or how they even got infected with the virus in the first place, but once a human is infected, they'll get flu-like symptoms which they think is just ordinary, but it really isn't. Anyway, within a few days the infected person will die, but their bodies will then reanimate and they'll start feeding on anything and everything that's ali-ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!" He suddenly yelled as he noticed that Kagome seemed to have zoned out and wasn't listening to him anymore. "I'M TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPOR-"

"It's really true..." Kagome quietly mumbled to herself, interrupting Inuyasha. She was staring at nothing in particular with a distant look on her face.

"What?" Inuyasha asked feeling puzzled. "How'd _you_ find out! No one knows about the accident except for us-"

"My mother... she called me the other day and told me that there had been an accident in the labs and that I was supposed to take my brother and leave the city." Kagome interrupted as she looked over at Inuyasha once again with an unreadable expression.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome with a shocked expression. "She called you!" He asked in a disbelieving voice. "But that's impossible! No one's permitted to make any phone calls outside of the Corporation!"

"Well _SHE_ did!" Kagome argued smartly, feeling her temper starting to rise. "I wouldn't lie about something like this-especially when it involves my mother!"

"I never said I didn't believe you, so just calm the hell down will ya!" Inuyasha argued back, feeling irritated. _'How the hell did her mom get access to a phone! I've never heard of anyone ever making any calls to the outside before!'_ He wondered to himself. _'Hell, I don't even know WHERE they keep the damn phones-if they even have any at all!' _

Kagome sat down onto the floor again. "How can you work for such a… evil company, knowing about all of the horrible things they've done?" She asked, looking up at him with a frown. "Don't you even care that all of those people died?"

Inuyasha growled and glared at her. "Of course I do! It's not like I wanted to be here in the first place anyway! They're-" He angrily shouted, abruptly ending his sentence and quickly turning his back to Kagome. "Look, it's none of your damn business!"

"Well, _excuse_ me!" Kagome smartly yelled. "I didn't do anything to you, so don't you yell at me, _asshole_!"

Inuyasha turned back around to face Kagome again. "Oh you didn't, _did you_!" Inuyasha replied smartly. "Well then who's the one who ripped open my back earlier, _huh_!" He yelled. "That fucking hurt, you _bitch_!"

Kagome growled. "Look, I already apologized for that and besides, _YOU'RE _the one who attacked _ME_ first! I was only trying to protect myself, thank you very much!" She angrily yelled as she stood up and went over to the door again. "And I'm NOT A BITCH either!"

Both of the half-demon teens continued to glare and growl at each other from either side of the cell door. After a few minutes, Inuyasha suddenly turned away and started quickly walking away. "Forget this shit! I'm out of here!" He loudly declared as he continued to walk briskly down the hall towards the exit.

Kagome quickly grasped the bars of the cell's little window and tried to peer out to look down the hallway at Inuyasha. "WAIT!" She called out desperately. "DON'T GO!"

Inuyasha suddenly halted just a couple of steps in front of the double steel doors and just stood there, saying nothing.

Kagome waited in anticipation, wondering what Inuyasha was going to say and hoped that he would stay. Even though he was a total jerk, she'd rather have his company than stand being left alone in the horrible place.

Without turning around, Inuyasha finally spoke. "I'll be back tomorrow." He plainly stated. Without another word, he then exited through the double steel doors, leaving Kagome all by herself in her cell.

"NO!" Kagome hollered, even though Inuyasha had already left. She then walked over to the left side of the room near the door and sat down on the floor in the corner. _'Damn it! I shouldn't have argued with him! Now that disgusting pervert will come back and try to…'_ She thought with worry, feeling even more panicked than she was earlier. Tears started flowing freely down her cheeks as she started to cry silently to herself, wondering if she'd even survive 'till morning.

* * *

After exiting the holding cell area, Inuyasha turned left and made his way down the hallway in which Manten had followed earlier. Once he reached the end of that hallway, he then opened a plain metal door that led into the larger part of the prison, where some of the zombies were being contained in jail-type cells that were lined up on both sides of the long, maze-like hallway.

As Inuyasha ventured down that hallway, the zombies instantly noticed him and all started moaning at once, creating a loud, echoing chorus of annoyance. Some of them even tried reaching their decayed arms out through the metal bars to try to grab a hold of Inuyasha, but he was far enough away from them, so he didn't even worry. He just ignored the zombies and kept his attention straight ahead of him, not wanting to look at their ugly, rotten faces.

Once he made it to the end of the hallway, Inuyasha made a left at the corner, where he finally spotted Manten, who was a couple of feet away sitting in a rusted metal chair sharpening an old dagger with a dirty cloth. Inuyasha instantly became angry and disgusted by just looking at him, which therefore caused him to pick his pace up without even realizing.

Hearing the sound of boots heading his way, Manten suddenly looked up from his work and scowled once he saw who it was. "What the hell do yo-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Inuyasha suddenly shoved him forcefully out of his chair and onto the floor.

Before Manten could react, Inuyasha immediately grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him off of the dirty floor. As soon as he got the older demon standing, he then forcefully punched him in his gut and then quickly performed an uppercut punch to his face, which instantly broke his jawbone.

Manten grunted in pain as he stumbled backwards and then landed roughly onto the floor again. He then looked up at the younger half-demon with a shocked and fearful look as he held onto the bottom of his broken jaw.

Inuyasha just glared menacingly down at the fallen demon and for a moment, his eyes flashed red with warning. "Stay away from the girl," He threatened in a dangerously low tone while growling slightly. "Or I'll fucking kill you."

Without saying another word, Inuyasha then turned around and started walking away from the terrified demon, satisfied at knowing that he got his point across.


	5. Secrets

**Chapter 5: "Secrets"**

* * *

_Secret Underground Location of the Shikon Corporation… _

A Demon woman in her mid-twenties, who had crimson colored eyes and was dressed in a standard white lab coat, a crème colored blouse underneath with a long plum colored skirt and black high heels, sat in a gray office chair that was situated in front of a standard wooden desk that had a computer, stacks of papers and various other office supplies on its surface. She was currently typing up the rest of her report on a specific specimen that she was monitoring over in the large lab just outside of the small office in which she was in.

As soon as she finished typing the last sentence of her report, she then saved the file onto the hard drive of the computer and then clicked the _"Print"_ button with the mouse. The large gray office-sized printer that was situated off to the left of the desk then started printing out the report onto sheets of expensive white paper. As the woman continued to sit and wait for the entire report to print out, she looked around the plain eggshell colored room with a bored expression on her tired face. Besides the desk and large printer, the only other pieces of furniture situated in the room was a metallic silver table nearby with different kinds of neatly stacked medical books and papers on its surface and there was also two office-sized gray metal filing cabinets next to it. On the other side of the room directly across from where the woman was sitting were a plain wooden door and a very large wall-length glass window next to it, which revealed the adjoining lab.

As soon as the woman noticed that the printer had stopped printing, she then stood up and walked over to the printer to gather up all of the printed-out papers that were off to the left side of the machine. After quickly going through each paper, she then carefully stuffed the papers into a large-sized yellow folder and then placed it onto the computer desk. After letting out a sigh of aggravation, she then walked over to the metallic silver table and grabbed a black pen and a brown notebook with white paper inside and then proceeded to the wooden door to exit the room.

After exiting the small office, the woman then found herself standing in the lab, which was VERY large. She could hear the oh-so-familiar beeps and other technical sounds coming from the many odd looking metallic machines and equipment which were placed throughout the entire lab. There were also large metallic tables placed in the center of the lab that had weird looking medical instruments and other scientific items like microscopes, Petri dishes, etc. Situated along most of the metallic walls of the room were many large _'test-tube'_ looking tanks filled with an unknown yellow liquid, as well as large green-colored unknown creatures inside. In the center of the room though was a much larger tank filled with a bluish liquid that contained a large pale _human-looking_ specimen inside. The almost seven foot creature had long white hair, which was floating all around its upper body in the liquid and there were many plastic tubes and wires of all different sizes sticking into various parts of its muscular flesh. The creatures eyes were also closed, which made it appear like it was either in a deep sleep or unconscious. Etched into a small steel plate that was situated on the front of the machine underneath that specimen's tank was the phrase, _"Tyrant Specimen #26"_.

The woman then proceeded across the room until she reached Specimen #26's tank. She then started to quickly jot down some notes into her notebook as she observed the many different monitors that were situated off to the right side of the tank which portrayed the creature's status and other data information on the specimen inside. As she continued to take notes, she suddenly heard the mechanical hissing sound of the lab's main electronic double doors slide open, followed by the sounds of high-heeled footsteps making their way towards her. Knowing instantly who it was—from a quick scent check—that had entered the lab, the woman once again sighed with aggravation as the other Demon approached closer to her. "Did Sesshoumaru receive his _precious_ files that he wanted?" The woman then replied in an annoyed tone as she continued to write down information into her notebook, not even bothering to turn around and face the other person.

The other younger Demon woman chuckled lightly. "Yeah but now that _stud-muffin_ is requesting for another updated report a.s.a.p." She stated nonchalantly as she quickly walked over to one of the metallic lab tables and then sat on its surface, while pulling out a pink nail file from inside the middle of her tight black leather tube top. She also wore a matching black leather short mini skirt and black leather knee-length high-heeled boots. She had magenta colored eyes and short black hair, which was held back with a red headband.

The woman in the white lab coat growled. "That lazy asshole!" She angrily muttered through clenched teeth. "If he's so impatient, then why doesn't he come down here and do it himself!"

The other woman frowned as she continued to file her already sharp nails. "Like chill out, Kagura!" She replied in a ditsy manner.

The woman in the white lab coat, known as Kagura, glared over at the younger Demon. "NO! I'm tired of taking his damn orders and working myself non-stop while he just sits on his lazy ass up in his _luxurious_ office and does nothing!" She loudly exclaimed as she started heading back over towards the small office room. "He's just like my bastard of a father!"

The younger Demon just shrugged as she tucked the pink nail file back into the middle of her tube top and then quickly bounced off the table. "Hey, I'm just telling you what he said!" She replied in an uncaring attitude as she followed after Kagura. "So, what should I tell him?"

Kagura walked into the office and proceeded over towards one of the metal filing cabinets. After a moment of just standing there in complete silence, she then pulled open one of the drawers and searched inside until she found what she was looking for. "Here, give him this." She stated in an annoyed tone as she handed the other Demon a vanilla colored folder with papers inside. "You tell him that's all I have for now and if he doesn't like it, well then that's just tough shit!"

"Oky doky!" The other Demon relied in a ditsy manner as she skipped over towards Kagura and then quickly snatched up the folder. Just as she was about to turn around and exit the small office, Kagura signaled for her to wait.

"Oh and Yura," Kagura coolly replied with a glare upon her face. "Tell Sesshoumaru that I'm taking my half-hour break now. If he needs something, he'll just have to get it himself."

Yura quickly clasped her hands together and shrieked with glee. "YAY! That means _I_ can take a break as well!" She happily exclaimed as she skipped out of the office and headed towards the lab's metallic double doors. "Now I can go bug that hunk-alicious Kouga guy!" She exclaimed out loud to no one in particular as she finally exited the lab, all the while rambling on about how cute Kouga was and such.

Kagura rolled her eyes in annoyance. _'What an idiotic airhead I have for an assistant!' _She thought with a frown as she continued to stand there in front of the open filing cabinet, tapping her right foot on the floor with irritancy. After a few minutes, she suddenly stopped her tapping. "This is bullshit!" She suddenly exclaimed out loud to herself. "I can't take this anymore!"

Finally fed up with Sesshoumaru's constant orders and the Shikon Corporation altogether, Kagura quickly turned back around to face the open filing cabinet and then angrily reached inside the drawer and started grabbing handfuls of folders and threw them over her shoulders, causing lots of various papers to come spilling out and ending up scattered all around the office room. Once she completely emptied the cabinet drawer, she then started to roughly pull open all of the other remaining filing cabinet's drawers and repeated her actions.

After entirely emptying both filing cabinets of all its files and folders, Kagura then angrily stomped over to the wooden desk and then forcefully pushed the computer monitor from off of its surface, which then loudly crashed onto the floor, sending fragments of the monitor's broken glass all over the floor. "I HATE THIS FUCKING PLACE! ESPECIALLY YOU FATHER!" She angrily yelled out loud as she pushed the computer tower off of the desk as well and then proceeded to smash the device into many pieces with her high-heeled foot. "ROT IN HELL WITH YOUR DAMN CORPORATION FOR ALL I CARE!"

After her short outburst, Kagura just stood in the middle of the office while breathing heavily and observing the mess that she had just created. "I don't care anymore…" She mumbled in an uncaring tone as she wriggled out of her white lab coat and then threw it onto the floor. _'I will no longer be a slave to my father and his damn company!'_ She mentally declared as she walked back over to the wooden desk and then reached inside one of the drawers to retrieve her pack of already opened cigarettes and a small green lighter. Hastily, she lit up a cigarette and took a long puff of it, then slowly blew the smoke out of her mouth.

Feeling somewhat calm all of a sudden, Kagura slowly walked out of the office room without a care in the world and then slammed the door shut behind her. The force of the door slamming closed caused the front door's label to fall off which read, _"Dr. Kagura Onigumo"_.

* * *

_The Mansion's Main Dining Room…_

Sesshoumaru, dressed in an expensive black suit, a red silk tie and shiny black loafers casually leaned back in the comfortable red plush velvet dining chair in which he was sitting in that was at the head of the long cherry wood dining table. The table was so large that it could seat up to at least twenty people and was formally decorated with a few antique golden candleholders with white candles _(which were all lit)_ and white linen doilies situated underneath a couple of small brown wicker baskets that were all generously filled with various ripened fruits. Also at each seat's place setting were fine white china dinner plates and expensive silver flatware that were all arranged properly.

The dining room itself was very large as well. The flooring, which was neatly polished to a reflective shine, consisted of a checkered pattern in black & white marble and the walls were made up of smooth gray stone. Many expensive hand-painted oil paintings of various people and scenic settings hung all around the room, as well as golden antique candleholders _(which the candles were all lit)_ situated here and there along all of the walls.

Besides the elaborate dining table, there were other pieces of furniture that were neatly placed around the room. There was a large wooden antique grandfather clock _(which was still working)_ that was situated against the right side of the wall, a small wooden stand that had a brass antique typewriter on its surface, four large white ceramic vases that contained tall green fern plants placed in every corner of the dining room and there was also an old victrola situated on a wooden stand that was currently playing the classical music of Beethoven's, _"Moonlight Sonata"_. There was also a large gray stone fireplace, which had a nice crackling fire going on, built into the wall directly behind from where Sesshoumaru was situated.

Jaken, who was dressed in a brown suit and matching brown loafers suddenly hobbled in through the double oak doors of the dining room, wheeling in an old-fashioned silver serving cart which contained a large shiny silver platter and a matching silver bucket filled with ice and a bottle of expensive red wine. "Here you are, my Lord!" He chirped happily in his old, raspy voice as he wheeled the cart up to the left side of the table where Sesshoumaru was sitting. "I've cooked up one of your favorites today!" He then placed the silver platter onto the table in front of Sesshoumaru and removed the lid, revealing a succulent salmon steak, au gratin potatoes and steamed asparagus.

Sesshoumaru smiled a rare, pleasing smile. "Thank you, Jaken. It looks like you've outdone yourself this time." He commented as he eyed the delicious looking meal in front of him.

Jaken's eyes suddenly widened in surprise and he almost came close to shedding tears of joy. "Th-thank you, my Lord!" He stuttered as he quickly bowed and then reached over to the cart and retrieved the bottle of wine from the ice bucket and then carefully started pouring the fine red wine into a silver chalice that was next to Sesshoumaru's dinner plate.

Just then, the double doors to the dining room were loudly pushed open, which caused both Sesshoumaru and Jaken to momentarily look up, but once they saw who had entered, they both just merely rolled their eyes and then Sesshoumaru continued on with eating his dinner while Jaken continued to fill his Lord's chalice up with wine. Meanwhile, the person who had entered the dining room just stood at the far end of the dining table with an annoyed look upon his face as he waited for someone to speak up.

After a few minutes, Sesshoumaru finally looked up from his food and turned his attention to the guest. "Ah, Inuyasha," He casually replied as he slowly set his fork down onto the table top's surface. "I assume that you have some information for me about the girl?"

"Yeah." Inuyasha bluntly replied as his face contorted into his normal annoyed-looking expression. _(He is still wearing the same clothing from the previous night.)_

Sesshoumaru leaned back comfortably into his plush chair. "Well, let's hear it then." He smartly requested with a slightly annoyed look upon his face.

Inuyasha had the urge to growl at his half-brother's attitude, but refrained himself from doing so. "Her name is Kagome and she said that the reason why she was in the forest was because she was searching for a family member that had gone hiking a few days ago and has been missing ever since." He quickly informed with a frown upon his face.

"Did the girl mention her last name by any chance?" Sesshoumaru asked with slight interest.

"No." Inuyasha bluntly replied.

"What about this _family member_ of hers? Did she say _who_ exactly she was searching for?" Sesshoumaru asked sounding slightly annoyed.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No." He bluntly lied, trying to maintain his normal tone and expression. "She didn't mention anything other than what I just told you." Although he managed to keep a straight attitude, he couldn't stop the feeling of nervousness within him. _'Why the hell am I doing this?'_ He mentally questioned himself. _'I don't even know the girl, yet I'm trying to protect her! Hell, I can't even save my own ass!'_

Sesshoumaru glared suspiciously at his younger half-brother for a moment as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You mean to tell me that that's _ALL_ the information you have for me?" He asked in an irritated tone as he watched how Inuyasha briefly avoided eye contact for a second and shifted uncomfortably from where he was standing. "What the hell took you so long then for, huh? Were the two of you chatting and exchanging phone numbers?"

"Yeah—I mean NO!" Inuyasha denied, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and anger, but then quickly spoke again. "But I plan on interrogating her again to find out more information..."

There was a brief moment of silence within the dining room, all except for the steady, echoing ticking of the grandfather clock and the classical music that softly played from the victrola.

Finally, Sesshoumaru was the first one to break the silence. "Tell me something, Inuyasha," He said in his usual calm and cold tone. "You would never _LIE_ to your dear older brother now, would you?" Before Inuyasha had the chance to say anything, he quickly continued. "Because if I find out that you _ARE_ lying to me, you _DO_ know what will happen to your mother now, don't you? Or have you forgotten?"

Upon hearing about his mother, Inuyasha started to lowly growl and glare hatefully at Sesshoumaru as he tightly clenched both of his hands into fists at his sides.

Sesshoumaru just merely smirked in satisfaction. "Good. I see that you remember." He coolly mocked in an uncaring attitude. "You may continue with your… investigation. …Now get out of my face."

The second that Sesshoumaru finished talking, Inuyasha quickly turned around and then angrily stomped out of the dining room, slamming the double doors shut behind him.

Jaken hobbled back over to the serving cart with a scowl upon his wrinkled old face. "I just don't see how that ignorant half-breed could get that stubborn girl to talk when Kouga could not!" He squawked in an annoyingly loud tone as he placed the half-empty wine bottle back into the bucket of ice. "I find that incredibly—no—_miraculously_ odd!"

"How Inuyasha was able to gather information from her in the first place... we'll never know." Sesshoumaru stated in a matter-of-fact tone as he casually folded his arms in front of his chest. After a moment of silence, he suddenly frowned and spoke. "Jaken, I am suspicious of his actions."

Jaken blinked. "How so, my Lord?" He asked sounding confused.

Sesshoumaru looked over at Jaken. "Did you not notice how he was acting just a few moments ago?" He asked in a somewhat calm tone and then continued before the little old man could respond. "He was nervous about something…"

"Ah yes, I see what you mean now, my Lord." Jaken responded while nodding in agreement. "He _was_ speaking rather quickly when he explained about the girl's reason for being in the forest…" After a silent minute of thinking, he suddenly spoke up again. "The half-breed normally keeps to himself, so why is he suddenly interested with talking to that girl anyway?" He stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sesshoumaru glared at nothing in particular and said nothing. _'Jaken has a good point: Inuyasha MUST be up to something, I just know it… And it involves that girl, too!'_ He mentally stated to himself as he casually downed the rest of his wine and then stood up from out of his chair and started to quickly walk over towards another door that was situated along the wall that was off to the right side of the fireplace.

"Where are you going, my Lord?" Jaken asked in a surprised tone as he started hobbling after Sesshoumaru. "You haven't even finished eating your dinner!"

Sesshoumaru rudely snorted. "I have more important matters to tend to right now." He stated coldly as he finally exited the dining room, leaving his faithful servant behind.

* * *

_The Mansion's Prison Facility… _

**_(BAM! BAM!)_**

"Come on girl, wake up!" Inuyasha called out in a demanding/annoyed tone as he continued to loudly bang his right fist onto the front metal door of Kagome's cell to try and wake her up.

"…Huh?" Kagome groggily mumbled as she finally opened her tired eyes and then slowly started to sit up from where she was situated on the floor. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she finally looked up at the door's tiny cell window and saw Inuyasha peering down at her with a frown.

"Jeez, it's about time! I've been banging on the door for like five minutes trying to wake your ass up!" Inuyasha rudely remarked in an impatient tone. "Here." He then offered as he somehow managed to shove a small, clean white dish towel and a bottle of fresh spring water through the barred window.

Caught off-guard for a second, Kagome managed to clumsily catch the bottle of water and towel just before they hit the dirty floor. She then looked up at Inuyasha with a surprised/questionable look. "What're these for?" She asked sounding confused.

"Duh! To clean some of that dirt off your face, dummy!" Inuyasha sarcastically replied with a frown. "You look like a crud-ball!"

Embarrassed from Inuyasha's comment, Kagome's cheeks suddenly turned red. "Well, it's not like I could do anything about it! I'm locked up in a cage for cripes sake!" She retorted, sounding irritated. "Anyway… Thank you." She then replied in a much softer tone.

Inuyasha's cheeks turned slightly pink as he quickly looked away from Kagome and stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yeah well..." He lowly mumbled, trailing off.

Thankful that she was finally able to quench her dry thirst, Kagome wasted no time with quickly opening the bottle of spring water and downing half of its contents within seconds. She then poured the remaining amount of water that was left in the bottle onto the towel to wet it and then proceeded to scrub the dry mud from off of her face and arms.

Inuyasha in the meantime—who was still facing away from Kagome—was deep within his thoughts. _'What the hell am I gonna do?'_ He wondered to himself, thinking back to everything that had occurred within the past twenty-four hours—especially his little _'chat'_ with his half-brother earlier. _'I have this bad feeling that Sesshoumaru thinks I'm bullshitting him... I could see it in his eyes!'_

Kagome, who was finally finished with cleaning herself up, set the now-dirty dish towel and empty water bottle onto the floor beside her and then looked up at Inuyasha once again, who was surprisingly quiet and facing away from her, looking like he was thinking about something. Feeling somewhat awkward with the silence, she finally spoke up. "So… Why are you here exactly?" She quietly asked as she stood up from off of the floor.

Being suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, Inuyasha blinked and then turned to face Kagome once again. "I told you I'd be back, didn't I?" He stated in an oh-so-obvious tone.

Kagome snorted. "Yeah… To ask me more questions, right?" She smartly replied with a frown upon her face. "Look, I've already told you everything I know! Can't you just let me go? _Please_?" She then pleaded with a desperate look within her eyes.

"It's not that simple!" Inuyasha loudly replied with frustration. "There's hidden camera's all over the place! The second we'd try to escape this damn place, it would only be a matter of minutes until those assholes catch us and haul our asses back in here or even kill us! Besides, I have no choice or else—" He suddenly stopped speaking and quickly looked away from Kagome with an angered expression upon his face.

Kagome was taken aback in shock. _'He wants to escape too? With me? But... Why? What's holding him back I wonder?'_ She thought with surprise. "…Or else what? What's holding you back?" She then quietly asked Inuyasha in a curious tone.

"I can't tell you." Inuyasha bluntly stated in a low, angry voice. "Besides, you wouldn't understand anyway!"

"How do you know I wouldn't understand or not?" Kagome angrily demanded. "Why can't you just tell me? It's not like I'd rat you out to anyone anyway! Besides, I trusted _YOU_ when I told you about the situation with my mother!"

Inuyasha just stared at Kagome with an unreadable expression on his face. _'She trusts me?'_ He thought feeling somewhat surprised. _'Well… I guess she has a point though about me being the only person that she actually told information to…'_

Noticing that Inuyasha suddenly moved closer towards her cell door, Kagome also approached closer towards the door as well. She then took notice of the pained/angry expression on his face and it seemed like he was getting ready to say something—so she just patiently stood there and waited.

After a hesitant moment to calm his inner emotions down, Inuyasha then spoke. "Look, the reason why I can't leave is because of my half-brother, Sesshoumaru—who by the way was the one that ordered me and Kouga to capture you." He informed in a very low tone so that only Kagome would be the only one able to hear him. "Anyway, he's keeping my mother locked up somewhere and threatened that if I ever tried leaving, he'd kill her."

Kagome gasped aloud in shock. "But _why_? Why would your brother do something so... So _evil_ like that to his own brother?" She asked in a soft but angry and confused tone.

"Because he's a bastard!" Inuyasha angrily said through clenched teeth. "He has _always_ hated me and my mother—for the mere fact that I'm a half-Demon and she's a human! And I know that the only reason why he hasn't killed _me_ yet is out of respect of our father and because he likes making me suffer like this; knowing that I can leave whenever I want to, but it would cost me my mother's life! So I have no choice _BUT_ to stay and do whatever he orders me to do!"

Kagome looked at Inuyasha with sympathy in her eyes and for a moment, didn't know what to say. "…I'm sorry, Inuyasha." She then quietly apologized as she lowered her head a bit and looked down at the floor.

Inuyasha's right eyebrow rose in confusion. "…For what?" He then asked in a confused tone. "It's not _your_ fault, so there's no need to apologize."

Both half-Demon teens just stood silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts and not knowing what to say to each other in that moment of awkwardness.

After about another minute, Inuyasha finally broke the silence. "You know something?" He sarcastically started off, trying to enlighten the awkward mood. "Besides the both of us being half-Demons, both of our mother's are missing as well. What a coincidence, huh?"

Kagome frowned slightly at Inuyasha's sarcasm. "Yeah, I guess your right…" She dully replied and then looked up at him with a serious expression upon her face. "Look, let's just work together so we can _both_ find our mothers and leave this damn place!"

Inuyasha's expression turned serious as well. "I already told you that the minute we try to escape here, Sesshoumaru would send everyone after us. They're _all_ full-blooded Demons and they're _all_ highly trained fighters…" He stated in an annoyed tone, trailing off as he held a thoughtful expression for a moment.

"So?" Kagome replied defensively as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "I'll be there fighting right alongside you! We'll kick _ALL_ their asses together!"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. It'll be too dangerous and I'm _not_ taking that risk." He stated seriously as he started to slowly walk away towards the exit. "I have to think of a plan first." He then called out over his shoulder.

"HEY!" Kagome called out to Inuyasha as she struggled to peer out through the tiny barred window. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere quiet to think." Inuyasha stated calmly as he just continued on with walking down the short hallway. "I'll come back later on." With that last statement, he then exited through the double steel doors of the holding cell area and closed them behind him.

Kagome huffed in annoyance and then sat back down onto the cold floor again, stubbornly crossing her arms in front of her chest. "What a jerk!" She angrily mumbled to herself with a frown upon her face as she wondered how long it would be until Inuyasha returned again.

Unknown to both of the half-Demon teens, a small gray colored hidden camera that was situated in one of the nearby corners of the cell area, had recorded them and their whole _"private"_ conversation...

* * *

_Somewhere within the Mansion..._

The room was pitch-dark, except for the small amount of light in which a couple of small TV surveillance monitors gave off that were displayed amongst one of the walls in the small room. Each individual screen displayed a certain area in which a hidden security camera was placed—ranging from the labs to the hallways of the Mansion, etc. There were also other various unimportant technical equipment situated in the room as well.

Sesshoumaru, who was seated in a black leather chair that was situated in front of the surveillance monitors, glared angrily at one of the certain screens as he watched and listened to the entire conversation that had gone on between his younger half-brother and the girl, Kagome that had taken place just a couple of minutes ago. _(All of the security camera's have a delay-recording time.)_

_'Hmm, so Inuyasha WAS lying to me after all, AND he's planning on escaping, eh?'_ Sesshoumaru thought with slight amusement as he continued to watch the screen, seeing that his brother was finally leaving the holding cell area. _'I warned him of the consequences…'_ He thought coldly as he finally stood up from out of his chair and started to briskly walk out of the small Security room. _'Now, both of those half-breeds are going to suffer!'_

* * *

Inuyasha quickly walked down one of the Mansion's many random hallways that were somewhat like mazes on the second floor, not really paying any attention to where he was going exactly. All that he had on his mind right at the moment was how he and Kagome were going to escape _and_ find their mothers—without getting captured of course. His body's adrenaline was rushing with excitement and nervousness at the thought of actually escaping from the Mansion, along with everything else that involved the Shikon Corporation. Then he and his mother—as well as Kagome and her family—would finally be free and able to live their lives normally… hopefully.

Inuyasha shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. "Damn it! I can't think straight!" He whispered in frustration to himself as he placed his right hand over his forehead. "I've got to calm down and start thinking of a plan! One that'll actually work…"

After walking for a few minutes more, Inuyasha finally came to the end of the current hallway in which he was in and then just stood in front of one of the many large glass windows, staring out into the nearby forest. Even though it was still early in the afternoon, the sky still portrayed its continuation of dark gray clouds, as well as a light, steady rain—making it feel even later than what it already was. Every now and then, the low rumbling of thunder could be heard as well. Letting out a sigh of frustration, Inuyasha then leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window, staring out into the depressing view before him.

Before Inuyasha even had the slightest chance to relax, he suddenly heard the sounds of heavy footsteps steadily making their way towards him from the previous hallway in which he had just traveled from. _'Pssh, it's probably just Kouga coming to bug me…' _He thought with annoyance as he moved away from the window, hearing the footsteps approaching closer to him. He then quickly sniffed the air for a quick scent check. _'Yup, it's Kouga alright, but… Manten's scent is with him as well…' _Despite the sudden nervousness that dwelled within his gut, Inuyasha hid it by putting on his usual frown upon his face and crossed his arms in front of his chest like he usually did. Once Kouga and Manten came into his view, he called out to them. "What the hell do you two want?" He asked in an irritated tone as he eyed the two suspiciously, still feeling somewhat paranoid.

Kouga frowned. "Sesshoumaru requests to speak with you." He replied in an orderly tone as he halted just a few feet away from Inuyasha. Manten, who remained a couple of feet behind Kouga said nothing, but instead just glared at the young half-Demon with pure hatred in his eyes.

Inuyasha snorted. "Whatever." He replied in an uncaring tone as he started following along behind Kouga and Manten back down the previous hallway, heading towards Sesshoumaru's office. _'Damn, I have a bad feeling about this…'_ He mentally thought with worry, feeling even more nervous than before to the point where he felt like throwing up, but he still managed to keep his exterior self cool.

A few minutes later, the three men had finally reached Sesshoumaru's study and immediately entered. Inuyasha stood a few feet directly in front of Sesshoumaru's desk, while Kouga and Manten stood a couple of feet behind him off to the left and right sides of the room. Jaken was also present in the room as well, standing off to the right side of his Lord's desk—as usual—and being unusually quiet for once. Sesshoumaru, like always, was sitting in his black leather office chair, facing the back window like he usually did.

None of the men in the room spoke or even made any sounds—with the exception of the low rumbling thunder and the steady rain softly patting against the outside window. Finally, after a few more awkward moments of silence, Sesshoumaru calmly spun the chair around to face his younger half-brother. His stone-cold face portrayed no emotion whatsoever, but the look in his eyes gave it all away: He was _PISSED_.

Inuyasha noticed this and mentally started panicking. Even though no one had said anything yet, he knew for some unknown reason that he was in major shit. _'Fuck! He knows!'_ His mind started screaming as he desperately tried to keep his calm, _what-the-hell-do-you-want_ expression and attitude.

But Sesshoumaru wasn't fooled by Inuyasha's cool exterior. He could easily smell his younger brother's fear and also noticed the panic-stricken look within his eyes as he stared coldly back at him.

Seeing the sinister look that his older half-brother was giving him, Inuyasha couldn't help it as his body started to sweat nervously. "What do you want?" He asked in a smart, low tone, still trying to act like his normal self.

Sesshoumaru suddenly started smirking as he glared menacingly at Inuyasha. "You've been lying to me, little brother." He bluntly stated in a cold tone. "I can no longer trust you, you poor excuse of a damn half-breed."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha retorted smartly. "I haven't—"

"You brought it upon yourself," Sesshoumaru suddenly interrupted as his smirk grew even wider. "And I quote, _"There's hidden camera's all over the place."_."

Inuyasha's face suddenly paled. _'DAMN IT! I'M SUCH A DAMN IDIOT!'_ He mentally screamed at himself. _'I forgot all about the damn security camera in the holding cell area! Shit! Now he knows EVERYTHING me and Kagome talked about…!'_

As if reading his younger brother's thoughts, Sesshomauru glared evilly at Inuyasha. "Oh yes, I overheard _EVERYTHING_ you and that wench were discussing." He stated angrily as he suddenly got up out of his chair and made his way around his desk and approached Inuyasha. When he reached about a foot away from his brother, he continued talking. "Did you honestly _think_ that the two of you could actually _escape_ from here without me killing the both of you first?" With lightning-quick speed, Sesshoumaru's right hand shot out and tightly clenched around Inuyasha's throat. He then proceeded to lift his younger brother up into the air as if he weighed nothing.

Inuyasha wildly kicked his legs about and tried to desperately pry Sesshoumaru's hand off from around his throat as he gasped and struggled to breathe.

"I warned you, Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru replied in a dangerously evil tone. "Now you and the girl are going to end up just like your mother did."

"What… Are you… T-Talking… About?" Inuyasha somehow asked in between gasps as he struggled for some oxygen and continued to kick his legs about, still struggling to break free from out of his brother's strong grasp.

Sesshoumaru laughed maniacally. "Did you honestly _think_ that I, the Great Lord Sesshoumaru would _actually_ let your human bitch of a mother _live_ for all of these years?" He exclaimed in a mocking tone as he slowly lowered his brother down to his eye level to look him straight in the eyes. He then smirked wickedly. "I killed her the very first moment I was put in charge of running this facility."

Inuyasha's face contorted into a horrific expression. "YOU'RE… L-LYING!" He angrily shouted, still struggling to breathe.

Sesshoumaru laughed. "You know for a _fact_ that I never lie about anything!" He stated as he continued to laugh in his younger brother's face. "Oh yes, it was such a riot watching your mother being ripped apart by those hounds! I can still recall that human bitch's screams, too!" He then started laughing like a madman as he remembered watching Inuyasha's mother die the torturous way she did.

Inuyasha eyes went wide with shock. _'No… NO! IT'S NOT TRUE!'_ His mind screamed in agonizing grief. _'All these years that I spent in this shit-hole, following that bastard's every order… And she's been dead all this time…?'_ Not able to contain the sudden inner rage that boiled inside him, Inuyasha's eyes instantly turned blood-red and his nails grew into sharp claws. "YOU BASTARD!" He suddenly hollered loudly as he violently thrashed out of his brothers hold and then quickly lunged straight at him.

Sesshoumaru had been expecting this type of reaction from his grieving brother and therefore quickly dodged out of the way before Inuyasha had the chance to strike him. But just as he was about to turn around to face his enraged younger half-brother again, he had suddenly felt sharp claws digging deep into the middle of his lower back. Surprised and caught off-guard at the sudden attack, Sesshoumaru hollered loudly at the sudden excruciating pain that he felt and then quickly shoved his brother far away from him.

Before Inuyasha had the chance to lunge at his brother once again, Kouga and Manten had quickly grabbed a tight hold of him, desperately struggling to keep the enraged half-Demon away from Sesshoumaru.

"LET ME GO!" Inuyasha furiously yelled as he tried to wildly struggle free from the Demon's grasps, all the while glaring murderously at Sesshoumaru. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" He then angrily snarled while growling.

"My lord!" Jaken yelled frightfully as he quickly ran over to Sesshoumaru's aide. "Are you alright?"

Sesshoumaru didn't respond as he clutched his wounded back. Instead, he growled and glared hatefully back at his younger brother. _'When the hell did he get so damn fast?'_ He thought with slight shock as blood from his deep wounds dripped onto the tan carpet. Suddenly realizing that this was the first time that ANYONE had ever caused him physical pain—by a half-breed at that—he angrily growled and quickly stomped over to where Inuyasha was and immediately punched him square across the face.

Inuyasha had felt his entire head move forcefully to the right, but didn't feel the pain from the impact of the punch whatsoever. The only pain that he felt at that moment was in his heart—knowing that his mother had been horrifically murdered. Slowly, he glared back over at Sesshoumaru and growled dangerously loud.

Sesshoumaru continued to glare back at Inuyasha as well, but managed to maintain his cold attitude once again. "Lock him up in one of the holding cells." He coolly commanded to both Kouga and Manten and then smirked. "And while you're down there, take the half-Demon girl to the labs. I have a special _'surprise'_ for her before I kill her."

"DON'T YOU _FUCKING _TOUCH HER!" Inuyasha yelled loudly in a threatening tone as he once again tried to thrash out of Kouga and Manten's hold as both of the Demons started dragging him out of the office.

Sesshoumaru just watched in silent amusement at the scene before him. Once Inuyasha had been finally dragged out of the room, he then quickly left his office and decided to change his clothing before he left to go down to the labs, anticipating for the _event_ that would take place soon.


	6. Dreadful Reunion

**Chapter 6: "Dreadful ****Reunion****"**

* * *

It had been nearly an hour since Kagome had last seen Inuyasha. Not only was she feeling impatient about his whereabouts, but she was also starting to worry as well for some odd reason. _'What's taking him so long?'_ She mentally questioned, feeling frustrated as she continued pacing back and forth within her small cell. _'It shouldn't take THIS long to think of a plan! Jeez!'_ She stopped pacing and then leaned her back up against the cold metal cell door, sighing loudly in annoyance.

All of a sudden, the main doors to the holding cell area were violently pushed open and loudly banged against the inner walls. The sounds of struggling and someone yelling loudly could be heard making there way down the hallway.

Startled, Kagome gasped in surprise and then quickly whirled around to peer out through the barred window to see what all of the commotion was about. When she looked out, she saw Kouga and Manten practically dragging Inuyasha—who was cursing and yelling loudly—right past her cell and down towards one of the other empty cells. _'Oh no! They must've found out about us trying to escape!'_ She thought with panic as she watched on in shock at the scene taking place in the hallway.

"LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARDS!" Inuyasha furiously yelled as he continued to desperately wrestle out of the older Demon's grasps.

"Shut your mouth you filthy half-breed!" Manten spat back as he tightened his hold on the young half-Demon's arms.

During all of the struggling, Kouga had somehow managed to open an empty cell's door that was at the very end of the hallway. Without wasting another minute, he and Manten quickly shoved Inuyasha into the small cell and then quickly closed and locked the door.

Inuyasha landed roughly onto the cold and dirty ground, but then immediately scrambled up and ran to the door. "LET ME OUTTA HERE!" He growled out loudly as he started to violently punch and kick at the metal door.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha," Kouga stated in an orderly tone. "But this is Sesshoumaru's orders."

For a brief moment, Inuyasha could've sworn that he saw a look of sympathy and a hint of anger in Kouga's eyes as he made that statement.

Manten snorted. "Why the hell do we have to lock him up? I want to kill him right now!" He angrily complained as he glared murderously at Inuyasha—who was growling and baring his fangs as he glared right back at him.

Kouga slightly turned to face Manten. "Shut up!" He ordered smartly with a glare upon his face as he walked past the larger Demon and went over towards Kagome's cell door. When he finally approached the cell, he said nothing as he used his security pass card to unlock the door.

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!" Inuyasha angrily threatened as he peered out through the cell door's barred window, noticing that the two older Demons were entering Kagome's cell. He knew that there was nothing he could do at that moment to help her and that only fueled his anger even more. All he could do was pray to whatever God was out there that those bastards wouldn't harm her.

Kagome instantly backed far away from the door upon seeing the two Demons approaching her. She glared and immediately started growling. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She smartly demanded as she got into a fighting stance. "And why did you lock Inuyasha up?"

"Sesshoumaru has requested to see you." Kouga plainly stated as he cautiously made his way towards the half-Demon girl. "I'm sorry Kagome, but I'm only following my orders."

Behind Kouga, Manten was closely following along and smirking seductively at Kagome.

At that moment, Kagome didn't know what to do. Her instincts were telling her to fight or make a run for it, but the rational part of her brain was telling her to keep it cool, even though she noticed that Manten was still looking at her with that sick look upon his face.

"Please cooperate, Kagome. I don't want to have to use force this time." Kouga calmly requested, noticing that the half-Demon girl still held her defiant look and fighting stance.

"Look, I'll only cooperate under one condition," Kagome coldly replied as she quickly pointed over at Manten's form. "Make sure that disgusting tub of lard stays the hell away from me! Got it?" There was no way in hell that she'd _ever_ let that twisted sicko near her ever again!

Kouga suddenly halted and quickly turned around to face Manten. "Get out!" He smartly ordered as he nudged his head in the direction of the cell door. "I don't feel like dealing with another hostile person today, so just do as I say and don't even _look_ at the girl, got it?"

Manten just ignorantly snorted but followed Kouga's orders anyway and immediately stomped out of the cell and waited out in the hallway.

Kouga then turned back around to face Kagome again while taking out a pair of thick, heavy-duty metal wrist shackles from off of the back side of his belt.

"Um… Are those really necessary?" Kagome hesitantly asked as she eyed the weird looking handcuffs. She sighed and then stubbornly held out both of her arms. "I said I'd cooperate, remember?"

Kouga frowned. "I apologize for this, but I'm not taking any risks." He calmly replied as he firmly clasped the shackles around both of Kagome's wrists. "Well, let's get moving. Sesshoumaru's a very impatient person when it comes to waiting around…" He sarcastically remarked as he gestured towards the opened cell door with his left hand.

Kagome rolled her eyes and just ignored Kouga's comment as the two of them proceeded to exit the cell. Once they got out into the hallway, Kagome quickly glanced over to her right and noticed that Manten—who was standing several feet away—was glaring at her. On instinct, she emitted a low growl as a double warning for the older Demon to keep his distance as Kouga continued to usher her towards the double doors that were at the end of the hallway.

Seeing that Kagome was being led closer towards the exit, Inuyasha couldn't help the feeling of dread that was building up within his gut. "KOUGA, LET HER GO DAMN IT!" He hollered out in a desperate tone.

Kouga quickly glanced back at Inuyasha with an unreadable expression upon his face and said nothing as he just kept on walking towards the exit.

Inuyasha growled. "YOU KNOW WHAT SESSHOUMARU'S UP TO, DON'T YOU?" He yelled out in an accusing tone. "KAGOME DOESN'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS SHIT, SO WHY ARE YOU HELPING THAT BASTARD?" When he received no response from Kouga, he continued his protest. "HE'LL EVENTUALLY KILL YOU TOO AND YOU KNOW IT!"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU FILTHY MUTT!" Manten suddenly yelled, getting fed up with the teenage half-Demon's protests. "I'M TIRED OF HEARING YOUR GODDAMN VOICE!"

"WHY DON'T YOU COME BACK HERE AND MAKE ME SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE _BITCH_!" Inuyasha angrily shouted out in a taunting tone as he noticed Manten suddenly halt and turn around to face him with an angry red face.

"WHY YOU—" Manten started to say, but was suddenly cut off in mid-sentence.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Kouga suddenly shouted without looking back at the arguing pair as he ushered Kagome and himself out of the holding cell area and into the main adjoining hallway.

Manten loudly growled and cursed under his breath as he quickly turned around and stomped out of the holding cell area, slamming the double doors shut behind him.

"DAMN IT!" Inuyasha furiously yelled out loud as he angrily punched the metal door to his cell with all his might. _'I have to get out of here and save Kagome!'_ He thought to himself as he continued to desperately thrash against the cell door to no avail.

* * *

_Somewhere within the __Onigumo_ _Mansion__… _

As Kagome was being led throughout many of the large Mansion's corridors, she continued to remain quiet and kept all thoughts to herself as she surveyed her surroundings within the eerie Mansion.

Each hallway that Kagome had traveled down was elaborately decorated with fine china collectable plates, various antiques and other old-fashioned looking knick-knacks situated on expensive wooden stands and tables. Hand-painted oil paintings of various landscapes and ancestral family members lined the badly cracked walls. In some spots, old and faded tan wallpaper strips were either missing or loosely hanging down the sides. There were also some antique brass electrical candle lights that adorned the walls as well, which provided limited light due to their dimness and the fact that some of the bulbs were either broken or missing. The overall lighting effect seemed to create eerie shadows in some spots.

_'I feel like I'm in some sort of horror movie…'_ Kagome thought to herself as she involuntary shivered slightly. _'This Mansion is way too creepy for me!'_

Kagome also noticed that every piece of furniture and objects were all heavily coated with inches of dust, due from the neglect of not being polished and cleaned in several years. Even the carpeted floors were dusty and dirty! So every time she took a step, dust would kick up into the air, which caused her to sneeze a few times.

After what seemed like an hour of walking, Kouga had finally stopped in front of a large wooden door. He unlocked it with a small silver key and then proceeded to open the creaky sounding door that led… outdoors?

Kagome blinked in bewildered. "I thought you were taking me to see Sesshoumaru?" She asked in a confused tone as Kouga gently tugged her right arm and started leading her outside into the pouring down rain.

"I am." Kouga plainly responded as he kept leading Kagome along the wilted garden's gray cobblestone path.

Looking around at the surrounding dead garden area, Kagome couldn't help the familiar feeling that was building up within her gut. '_I think I've seen this place before… but where?'_ She thought to herself in confusion as she passed a large stone water fountain that had dead ivy leaves wrapped around its base.

Suddenly, Kagome realized something about the garden; the rain, the wilted and dead plants, the cobblestone pathway… _'THIS WAS IN MY DREAM!'_ She mentally exclaimed as she started thinking back to everything that she had seen in her dream that she was _now_ seeing right before her eyes in reality. The only thing that was missing so far was the sad woman. _'What does this all mean?'_ She mentally questioned herself as the feeling of dread started building within her gut.

After a few more minutes of walking, Kouga, Kagome and Manten finally came to a large clearing that had a very large, round stone fountain with a weird looking serpent statue situated at the base of the fountain. Kouga signaled for the other two to stay as he approached the serpent statue and took out a small round silver medallion that was engraved with the Shikon Corporation symbol and then placed it into an exact fitted hole that was at the base of the statue. After the medallion had been properly placed, the ground suddenly started shaking slightly as the statue started to slowly descend into the cemented ground while the murky water from with inside the fountain started rapidly draining away to somewhere unknown.

Kagome's eyes widened with shock as she continued to watch the scene taking place before her. _'What the hell…?'_ She mentally questioned herself as she watched the serpent statue finally disappear into the ground. After all of the water had finally been drained, she found that there was a short set of metal stairs within the fountain that led down to a small elevator lift.

Kouga then proceeded to usher Kagome and himself through the opening where the statue had once been and then down the slick metal steps to the elevator lift, with Manten slowly following along behind them. When the three of them finally situated themselves onto the lift, Kouga pressed a large red button that was off to the side of the elevator and suddenly the lift started to slowly descend down into the deep, unknown darkness below.

* * *

Within a matter of minutes, the elevator lift made a sudden stop when it finally reached the solid ground below, which was hundreds of feet below the above-ground's surface. Manten was the first to exit the lift and then Kouga, who then ushered Kagome out as well. The three of them then made their way over to a solid steel door that was across from the elevator lift and then proceeded through the door.

After entering through the door, Kagome found herself standing in a small lobby, but before she could even take a look around, she was quickly ushered through another set of doors and then found herself standing in a brightly lit hospital-like hallway. The flooring was made up of a black & white tiled surface, which revealed a couple of scattered black scuffmarks and other unknown stains. The paneled walls were a plain eggshell white color that had a few post boards here and there with various flyers and memos posted with different colored thumbtacks. There were also several closed doors off to the left and the right sides of the hallway that were all numbered with different numbers at the very top of the doorways.

_'It's so quiet and cold down here…'_ Kagome thought to herself as she shivered slightly, causing Goosebumps to form on both of her arms. Kouga then gently tugged on her right arm again and proceeded to lead her down the hallway with Manten trailing once again behind them.

After several minutes of walking down many different hallways, the three of them finally came to a stop in front of a metallic sliding door that was marked _"Observation Room"_ at the very top of the doorway. Without saying a word, Manten pressed a little gray button that was off to the right side of the door and in an instant, the door quickly slid open with a soft hiss-like sound. The three of them then entered the small room, which looked like some kind of office. There were several different data charts posted amongst the walls, a metal office desk that had a computer and scattered documents & other papers strewn upon its surface. There was also a metallic work-station table that had a couple of unknown medical-looking instruments and devices that were all neatly situated on the tabletop's surface. Across the room from the entrance was another door, which was just a plain metal door with a simple doorknob. Next to that door was a large, thick-glassed observation window that allowed you to view what was inside the adjoing room, but at the moment, the room inside was pitch black.

Lastly, standing in the very center of the office room was a very tall man that had his back towards the three. He had long white hair that was neatly pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his neck and he was wearing a dark blue combat uniform, which appeared almost similar to what Kouga and Manten were wearing at the moment. The man was also wearing a basic pair of black combat boots as well.

_'That guy must be Sesshoumaru…'_ Kagome mentally concluded as she continued to stand in silence, waiting for the older Demon to speak.

As if reading Kagome's thoughts, Sesshoumaru slowly turned around and eyed the teenage half-Demon girl that was standing a couple of feet in front of him. "Ah, I see that you've finally arrived, Miss Higurashi." He coolly stated with a grin upon his face. "My name is Sesshoumaru, but you've probably already figured that out haven't you?"

Kagome snorted in an ignorant manner. "Yeah." She smartly replied as she glared at the older, intimidating Demon. "Anyway, I want to know what the hell is going on here and why you people have kidnapped me and made me a prisoner against my will!"

Sesshoumaru lightly chuckled. "Simple. You were trespassing on private property… The signs posted clearly stated that if you were caught trespassing, we had every right to detain you without questioning." He stated in a playful sounding tone. "And to answer the other part to your question—it's nothing that you need to know about."

"First of all, I _NEVER_ saw any of your stupid signs posted _ANYWHERE_ and secondly, what the hell do you mean _"it's nothing that I need to know about"_? Some crazy-ass guy in _YOUR_ forest on _YOUR_ property _ATTACKED_ _ME_ for cripes sake! I believe I have every damn right to know what's going on!" Kagome demanded loudly in a frustrated tone as she continued to angrily glare at Sesshoumaru.

Ignoring the teenage half-Demon's outburst, Sesshoumaru just glared in annoyance at her with his golden yellow eyes. "Let me ask you a question… Kagome." He casually said as he kept his steady glare upon her. "Why _exactly_ were you in the forest anyway? If I'm correct—which I always am—residents from the city were strictly forbidden from going into the Arklay Mountains."

"I uh…" Kagome stammered awkwardly as she tried to quickly think of a good excuse to use. "…Just felt like going for a walk in the woods."

Sesshoumaru just simply smirked. "You're lying to me." He plainly stated.

Kagome nervously bit her bottom lip and said nothing. Instead, she just kept glaring coldly at Sesshoumaru, even though she didn't feel all that bold anymore.

"You were searching for the Shikon Corporation Headquarters to find your mother were you not?" Sesshoumaru asked in a mocking tone as he continued smirking. When he received no response from the teenager, he continued on. "I know that she contacted you over the phone… And that's the reason why you're here, isn't it?"

Kagome growled. "Where is she?" She demanded angrily through gritted teeth.

"She caused me a lot of trouble when I found out what she was up to." Sesshoumaru replied, once again ignoring Kagome's questions. "Just like your father did when I found out about what he and _my_ father were up to; plotting to go against the Shikon Corporation."

Kagome blinked in confusion, but remained silent.

Sesshoumaru chuckled. "I exposed their little _secret_ to Naraku, the founder of the Shikon Corporation. I knew that if I got those two out of the picture, Naraku would put me in charge of running the facilities here in Raccoon… and he did." He stated in a sadistic sounding tone as he continued to glare coldly at Kagome. "But I want it all! I want to rule the entire corporation! I want to make every single disgusting _human_ in this world _suffer_!"

"But _why_? What the hell did humans ever do to _you_?" Kagome angrily argued back.

Sesshoumaru growled. "_Humans_ are a disgrace to all mankind! They're stupid, weak and they all deserve to _DIE_!" He loudly proclaimed. "Inuyasha's whore of a mother—a damn human—had been replaced over my mother! SHE RUINED MY LIFE!"

Kagome snorted. "Oh, I get it!" She replied in a smart, sarcastic manner. "You're just a spoiled momma's boy that got pissed off 'cause his daddy married a human woman and now that spoiled brat wants revenge on everyone 'cause he's a little pissant!"

**_(SMACK!)_**

Quicker than the blink of an eye, the back of Sesshoumaru's hand forcefully met with the left side of Kagome's cheek, causing her to cry out in pain. The force from the slap had almost sent her to the floor, but Sesshoumaru had quickly reached out and grabbed her by the back of her ponytail and then angrily yanked her up to a standing position once again.

"Do you want to know what _really_ happened to your father, you little _bitch_?" Sesshoumaru angrily hissed through clenched teeth as he pulled back harder on Kagome's hair so that she was now directly face to face with him, staring fearfully into his hatred-filled eyes. "It wasn't some _'car accident'_ that killed him… _I_ KILLED HIM!"

Kagome tried to turn her head to look away, but Sesshoumaru roughly grabbed a hold of her jaw with his other hand to prevent her from doing so. She was so scared at the moment that tears were starting to well up within her eyes. "You bastard!" She whispered harshly as she started to struggle out of the Demon's grasp.

Sesshoumaru suddenly smirked evilly. "I have a surprise for you!" He smartly announced with enthusiasm as he roughly pulled Kagome over towards the large viewing window and then flipped on a light switch that was off to the side of the window. When the lights in the other room came on, Kagome gasped in horror at what she saw displayed inside.

Bound to the farthermost wall by electronic metal clasps was Kagome's mother. Her white over coat was torn in some places and stained with dried blood, as well as the front of her blouse and long skirt. Mrs. Higurashi's head was drooped down, making it impossible to see her due to the messy locks of raven black hair that hung down in front of her face.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY MOTHER?" Kagome loudly shouted out in a horrified tone as Sesshoumaru proceeded to drag her over to the plain metal door that led into to the other room where her mother was.

Sesshoumaru smirked wickedly as he opened the door. "You'll see!" He smartly replied as he quickly unlatched Kagome's wrist shackles and then roughly shoved her into the room. He then slammed the door closed and then retrieved a small silver key out from within his right pants pocket and locked the door.

Kagome stumbled into the small, foul-smelling room and caught herself just before she landed onto the hard, dirty white tiled floor. Without hesitating, she quickly rushed over to her mother's still form that was bound to the cemented wall. "Mom! _MOM_! Are you all right? Say something!" She quickly asked in a panicked tone as she reached up and gently tilted her mother's chin up… and then almost screamed out in pure terror.

Mrs. Higurashi's face was a deathly white pale color and peeling with rotten flesh in some places. Her eyes were opened and displayed nothing but a glassed-over whiteness to them instead of her once beautiful brown color. Her still, cold body showed no signs of life whatsoever anymore.

Sensing the nearby presence of the living, the zombified Mrs. Higurashi suddenly started to moan in an eerie, desperate-like manner as she started to slowly lift her head up by her own will.

Kagome gasped and took a few shaky steps backwards as tears started flowing freely down both of her cheeks. "W-what did you do to her?" She demanded in a choked voice as she watched as her undead mother started snarling and struggling to break free out of her bindings.

Suddenly, Sesshoumaru's voice broke out over a loud speaker that was installed in the top left corner of the room. _"I did absolutely nothing. It was all the work from the virus that turned her into what she is now."_ He stated in a simple, uncaring tone.

"YOU LIAR!" Kagome angrily shouted, her voice sounding full of rage.

Sesshoumaru just laughed. _"Let's have a little fun now shall we?"_ He exclaimed with enthusiasm as he pressed a switch somewhere within the observation room.

All of a sudden, the metal clasps that were holding Mrs. Higurashi into place against the wall clicked open, therefore instantly releasing the zombified woman onto the floor below. Mrs. Higurashi then slowly started to pick herself up off of the floor while hungrily moaning.

Still in shock, all Kagome did was just stand there and watch as her undead mother started to slowly shuffle her way over towards her with outstretched arms. _'This can't be happening! I can't believe she's… she's…' _She thought with horror, not wanting to accept with what she was seeing right before her very eyes.

Sesshoumaru on the other hand was simply enjoying the '_heart-wrenching'_ scene the mother and daughter that was taking place in the opposite room. All he kept doing was smirking and chuckling to himself, as well as Manten too.

Kouga on the other hand couldn't stand it. _'Damn that heartless bastard!'_ He angrily thought to himself as he quickly turned his head away, no longer able to watch the scene taking place in the other room anymore. _'I have to do something! I can't just stand here and not do anything!'_

As Mrs. Higurashi kept advancing closer towards her daughter, all Kagome kept doing was backing away from her as much as possible, not knowing what else to do. _'I can't just keep this up!'_ She thought with frustration. _'But I don't know what else to do!'_

Suddenly, Kagome accidentally tripped over her own feet and ended up falling onto the floor, landing right on her backside. In a quick instant, the zombified Mrs. Higurashi snarled and quickly lunged down at her daughter, trying to bite at her flesh. But Kagome was quick to react to the situation and therefore grabbed a tight hold of her mother's neck and right shoulder, keeping a somewhat safe distance from being bitten. _'I have to end this… but I can't! I just can't do it!'_ She thought with frustration as she continued to wrestle her snarling mother away from her.

For a moment, Kagome looked straight up into her mother's eyes—her dead, lifeless eyes. Her mother was no longer the person she was before. In fact, she was actually dead… Only her body continued to move with the primal instinct for the need to feed—on living flesh that is. As hard as it was to accept it, Kagome knew what she had to do next… and she knew that somewhere within the spiritual realm, her mother would agree with her decision as well. _'This can't go on any longer. I have to put mama out of her misery… Even though she's not alive anymore… I have to do it!'_ With that last thought, Kagome tightly shut her eyes closed and started to cry out loud, preparing herself for what she was about to do. She hesitantly positioned her hands around her mother's neck and face and then in one quick motion, sharply snapped her mother's neck.

Mrs. Higurashi's body instantly went limp and then slumped down onto the floor directly beside her daughter. Shaken and horrified at what she had just done, Kagome quickly sat upright and then turned over to gather her mother's lifeless body into her arms, crying her shattered and torn heart out. "I love you so much, mama!" She cried out in a choked voice, not caring if anyone was watching her or not as she continued to cry upon her mother's limp shoulder.

In the opposite room, Sesshoumaru smirked and Manten continued to chuckle in amusement while Kouga stared angrily down at the floor, tightly clenching his hands into fists at his sides.

* * *

_Somewhere on Basement Level 3… _

The sound of Kagura's high-heeled hurried footsteps echoed loudly throughout the long, empty hallway in which she was currently traveling down. She was on one of the lower maintenance basement levels of the lab's facilities, quickly heading towards the Main Power Supply Room.

_'If anyone finds out that I'm down here…'_ Kagura thought with worry, but then quickly shook her head to get rid of those negative thoughts. _'No one knows what I'm up to—not even Yura!'_ She mentally reassured herself as she took one last quick puff of her cigarette before carelessly flicking it onto the cemented ground. Sweat was already starting to form upon her determined face, due from her nerves and feeling paranoid about the entire situation which was about to take place.

Finally, Kagura approached a solid steel locked door that was at the end of the hallway. She quickly fumbled with the small ring of keys that she had been holding and found the required key labeled, "B-3 C. Room" _(Basement-3 Control Room)_ and then quickly unlocked the door. Once the door had been unlocked, she then quickly stepped inside the small room and flipped on the nearby light switch that was off to the right side of the door. The only objects within the room were just a plain metal locker and a metal desk that had various unimportant papers scattered about its surface. There was also another door that led to another room. Kagura made her way over to the locker and used another small from the key ring to unlock the padlock. After opening the locker door, she found a folded-up blueprint of the entire lab facilities, a large industrial-sized flashlight, a 9mm handgun and a small unopened box of 9mm bullets.

_'I'll definitely need the map and the flashlight once I shut off all the power.'_ Kagura mentally concluded. _'And I guess I should take the gun with me as well.'_ She then hastily grabbed all of the items within the locker, making sure to load the gun with the bullets first before situating the gun—with the safety on—into the back of her skirt. Afterwards, she then proceeded over to the other door and entered the next room.

The room in which Kagura had just entered was a very large maintenance/control room. There were various levers, buttons and other technical equipment placed throughout the entire room that allowed you to activate or deactivate anything and everything within the Mansion and the lab facilities. In the very center of the room was a very large complicated-looking metal structure, which was the main reactor—the essential device for activating an emergency self-destruct countdown system. Lastly, off to the side of the reactor was a small control panel that required a special card key to activate the self-destruct system.

After quickly glancing around the room, Kagura then proceeded over to the left side of the room where the master control switch was located. _'I'll teach that bastard Sesshoumaru that I'm not a person to mess with!'_ She angrily thought with a grin. _'I'm going to destroy this damn evil company once and for all! Then… YOU'RE NEXT, FATHER!'_ With that last thought, the angry Demon woman slammed her fist down onto the master control switch, destroying the panel, which permanently disabled everything from the electricity to the security systems from ever being activated again.

* * *

_"That was a very entertaining show, Kagome."_ Sesshoumaru's voice suddenly announced over the loud speaker. _"What a better way to torture someone then by having them kill one of their loved ones. It's simply priceless."_

Kagome slowly looked up at the large glass mirrored window and glared hatefully at Sesshoumaru—even though she couldn't see him at the moment. "YOU BASTARD!" She yelled venomously as she started to growl. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY MOTHER!"

Sesshoumaru started laughing like a madman. _"Do you honestly think that YOU, a mere HALF-BREED can defeat ME? You're out of your mind, bitch!" _He smartly declared out loud.

All of a sudden, the lights within both rooms suddenly went out, momentarily surprising everyone. A second later, the back-up emergency lights came on, but they were very dim and didn't give off a whole lot of lighting.

"What the hell?" Manten proclaimed out loud to no one in particular. "What happened to all the lights?"

Then suddenly, the three Demons that were standing in the observation room all heard the electronic door behind them unlock all by itself.

Sesshoumaru growled. _'This must be Kagura's doing!'_ He angrily thought to himself as he abruptly turned around and faced Kouga and Manten. "You two; go and check the control room and find out what happened!" He then commanded smartly.

Manten just nodded and quickly left the room, while Kouga just stood in his place and glared at Sesshoumaru.

"Are you deaf or something, idiot? Sesshoumaru smartly asked in an impatient tone as he glared back at the younger Demon. "I gave you an order! Now _MOVE_!"

_'I can't defeat him… He'll kill me before I can even make a strike!' _Kouga mentally declared to himself as he unnoticeably growled lowly. Without saying a word, he then quickly left the room to go and check the problem out.

After a moment of just standing there in silence, Sesshoumaru then glanced back into the opposite room and noticed that Kagome was still crying and holding onto her dead mother. _'The door's manually locked, so there's no way she'll be able to escape.'_ He mentally reassured himself as he started walking out of the room and into the dimly lit hallway. _'Inuyasha's probably escaped his cell by now… He'll be heading here, no doubt.' _With that last thought, the older Demon then started heading for the emergency exit, in pursuit of his little brother.


	7. The Chaos Begins

**Chapter 7: "The Chaos Begins"**

* * *

_**(BAM! BAM!)**_

"OPEN YOU STUPID DOOR!" Inuyasha shouted as he continuously kept trying to ram the metal cell door down with his right shoulder. After a few more tries, he finally stopped to catch his breath. _'Damn! Why am I so worn out?'_ He mentally questioned as he hunched over slightly and wiped the beads of sweat from off of his forehead with the back of his left hand.

Suddenly, Inuyasha realized why he felt so weak. '_SHIT! Tonight's the new moon!'_ He mentally shouted in realization. _'It just HAD to be tonight, didn't it? Great! This is just fucking great!' _Even though he still had sharp nails and fangs, he knew that it wouldn't be long until he—as well as Kagome—would transform completely human.

The feeling of dread started welling up within Inuyasha's gut as he thought of Kagome, knowing that her life was in danger—whether she even had the chance to turn fully human or not before Sesshoumaru would kill her. _'Kagome… I have to get out of here and save her!'_ He mentally declared as he once again prepared himself to charge at the cell door. But before he even had the chance to try again, all of the lights within the holding cell area suddenly went out.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha exclaimed out loud in a confused tone as he noticed the dim back-up lights turn on suddenly out in the small hallway. A mere second later, the clicking sounds of all the cell doors being automatically unlocked could be heard echoing throughout the area. _'All the power's been shut off? But… why?'_ He mentally questioned as he slowly made his way out of the now-opened cell and into the small hallway. _'This isn't a good sign. Something must've happened…' _His enhanced vision was quickly fading, making it difficult to see as he made his way towards the exit. When he finally made it to the double steel doors, he was just about to open them when all of a sudden he could hear what sounded like many shuffling feet scraping against the ground out in the next hallway, as well as some eerie moaning. _'Shit! All the zombie prisoners are out now!'_ He thought with slight panic as he looked down at his now normal-looking finger nails. _'I gotta get past them before I turn fully human!'  
_  
Not wanting to waste another precious second, Inuyasha yanked open both of the steel doors and quickly darted out into the next hallway and accidentally ran straight into a zombie that was standing just outside of the doors. Because of the powerful impact though, the zombie ended up falling backwards into another nearby zombie, causing them to both to fall down onto the hard cemented ground.

"GET OUTTA MY WAY!" Inuyasha loudly hollered as he kept shoving and punching zombies away from him as he attempted to quickly run past them in the crowded hallway. There were so many zombies in that hallway, that it was a guarantee that any normal human wouldn't have made it out of there alive.

Finally, Inuyasha made it to the main security door that was at the end of the long hallway and quickly exited, making sure to close the door behind him—although he didn't know if it would do any good or not. He then dashed up the long, steep set of stone stairs and exited through the set of iron doors that were at the top.

Even though he was running out of breath, Inuyasha continued on. He quickly ran around to the front of the main foyer of the Mansion and ran up the grand staircase; skipping up every two steps so he could get to the top faster. Once he finally reached the top of the staircase, he then turned left and exited through one of the many doors that were on that level.

After several minutes and venturing down several different hallways and rooms, Inuyasha finally reached his room. Once inside, he quickly made his way over to the closet and yanked open the door. He then kneeled down onto the hardwood floor and then carefully removed a loose wooden board, which revealed a secret hidden space underneath. He then reached into the open space and hastily retrieved all of the contents inside, which was a large white metal "First Aid" kit, a large military survival knife, a silver Magnum Revolver and a full box of .357 Magnum rounds.

These were Inuyasha's _'in-case-anyone-tries-to-kill-me-when-I'm-human'_ resources that he'd somehow managed to steal over the past three years without anyone noticing.

Inuyasha tucked the survival knife onto the left side of his belt and then started loading the empty Magnum with the bullets. When the gun had been fully loaded, he then emptied the remainder of the box of bullets into his left pants pocket. Since the First Aid kit was too big to fit into any of his pants pockets, he decided to leave it behind.

In that short amount of time, Inuyasha had already turned completely human. His fangs were gone and his nails were a normal human's now. His normal golden eye color had also changed into a dark chestnut brown. The only physical trait that remained the same was his hair color. Also, all of his enhanced senses: sight, smell & hearing—were that of a normal human's, as well as his enhanced fighting abilities and stamina.

_'Being fully human really sucks ass!'_ Inuyasha thought stubbornly as he grabbed his gun and stood up from off the floor and headed towards the door. He hated the feeling of being _weak_ and _vulnerable_—especially now of all times! And without being able to use their Demonic abilities, his and Kagome's chances of survival and escaping from this hellish place were _very_ slim. _'I swear I'll find you, Kagome!'_ He then mentally declared as he started making his way out of his room to head towards the lab facilities. _'Just hang in there!'_

* * *

Kagome didn't know how long she'd been sitting on the floor in the dimly lit room, crying and cradling her dead mother's body within her arms, but she didn't really care either. All she could think about was that she had failed in trying to save her mother. _'First dad and now mom…'_ She sadly thought to herself as constant tears continued to flow freely down both sides of her cheeks. _'Souta's the only person I have left now… and Inuyasha.'_

Kagome suddenly remembered that her new friend was still locked up in the prison somewhere back inside the Mansion. _'I hope he's ok…'_ She worriedly thought to herself as she wiped her tear-stained cheeks with the back of her right hand. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd escaped his cell by now. Even though she was in another room, she had faintly heard the electronic door in the other room unlock all by itself after the power suddenly went out. '_I have to get out of here.'_ She then mentally concluded as she pushed a few strands of her mother's black hair away from her still-open clouded eyes. Carefully, she then laid her mother down onto the floor and gently closed her mother's eyelids shut, all the while saying a silent prayer of forgiveness.

After a moment, Kagome stood up off of the floor and inhaled deeply to try and calm her nerves down. She then walked over to the door and tried turning the doorknob, but found that the door was locked. _'Damn! I_ _need something to unlock the door with…'_ She thought in frustration as she scanned the poorly lit room for anything that could possibly be useful.

Suddenly, Kagome spotted a saw a small silver object lying on the floor close to the wall where her mother had been bound. She then walked over to the object and picked it up to see what it was. "A hairpin?" She quietly mumbled. "It must've fallen out of mom's hair…" She then proceeded back over to the door again and tried picking the lock, even though she had no clue how to.

**_(CLICK!)_**

As if by some miracle, Kagome somehow finally managed to get the door unlocked. But before she exited the room, she sadly glanced back down over at her mother's body. "I love you, mom. May you rest in peace now…" She quietly said, blinking back more tears as she proceeded to exit the room.

* * *

Kagome carefully peered out from behind the observation room's electronic door and cautiously glanced down both sides of the dimly-lit hallway to see if the coast was clear and found that it was. '_Good.'_ She mentally thought to herself as she quietly stepped out into the hallway. _'Now which way was it to the elevator lift? I think it was—wait a minute. I can't go back there even if I knew where it was! It won't work 'cause the powers out! Crap! There HAS to be another way to get out of here…!'  
_  
Kagome just stood in the middle of the hallway for a moment with a frown upon her face as she placed both of her hands upon the sides of her hips. _'Which way should I go?'_ She mentally questioned as she glanced down both ends of the hallway once again. "I think I'll go… right." She then quietly mumbled to herself as she proceeded walking in that direction. "I just hope it's the right way out of here though…"

* * *

_Fifteen minutes later…_

The sounds of Kagome's boots seemed to echo loudly amongst the dead silence within the hallway that she was currently venturing down for probably the third time now. _'This place is so frickin' confusing! I have no idea where the hell I'm going!'_ She thought with a frustrated sigh. It seemed like no matter which endless hallway that she decided to take, it always seemed to bring her back to the same locations that she had already been to. And to make matters even worse, she had also transformed completely human as well.

A little while ago, Kagome had realized that she was becoming _really _tired from all of the walking around that she'd been doing, which normally wouldn't have bothered her that much. She then soon discovered that all of her physical Demon traits—fangs, nails and abnormal eye color—were absent as well.

**_(SQUEAK!)_**

Kagome suddenly jumped slightly and gasped out in fear. '_What the hell was that?'_ She thought with paranoia as she looked all around the area for the rodent-like 'squeak' that she'd just heard seconds ago. Her heart was beating so fast the she swore that she was going to have a heart attack at any given moment.

After waiting a few more seconds and not hearing anything else, Kagome inhaled deeply to calm her nerves down before she resumed with walking again. "Here I am, all by _myself_ wondering around in some strange, poorly lit, secret underground lab facility without any of my Demonic abilities or any weapons to defend myself with in case I come across any zombies or even that Sesshoumaru guy!" She quietly exclaimed to herself as she absent-mindedly fiddled with the small hairpin within her fingers and then placed it within her left pants pocket. "I'm _SO_ lucky, aren't I?"

All of a sudden, the sound of a standard door being opened and then closed occurred in the far distance somewhere in the previous hallway, which startled Kagome. _'Shit! Someone's coming!'_ She mentally thought in panic. _'I have to find somewhere to hide!'_ Without giving much thought, she quickly ran over to the nearest door and immediately entered the room, making sure to quietly shut the door behind her.

Upon entering the room, Kagome quickly noticed that it was just a small office. There were two plain wooden desks that each had a computer and other random office supplies situated upon the desk's surface, a few metal filing cabinets that were placed randomly around the room, a large office-sized printer, a large cork bulletin board hanging on the wall that had a couple of post-it notes tacked onto the front of it and there was also many unimportant papers and books scattered amongst the floor as well. A small metal ceiling fan that was situated above in the middle of the ceiling was slowly rotating, using whatever momentum it had left from the lack of power supply, thus creating short and annoying screeching noises every so often. There was also another door on the opposite side of the room, which was cracked open slightly.

After giving herself a moment to calm herself down, Kagome then cautiously leaned her head onto the side of door in which she just came through to listen for any noises. It sounded faint at first, but she could hear what sounded like… footsteps, which were sounding louder now, making their way down the hallway towards the room that she was currently hiding in.

Panicked, Kagome ran as fast as possible to the opposite side of the room towards the other door and then quickly slipped inside the other room, quietly shutting the door behind her. She then turned around and discovered that she was now standing in what appeared to be a large gym-like locker room. There were dozens and dozens of gray metal lockers all lined up side-by-side all along the entire walls, as well as some lockers situated in rows down the aisles, located within the middle of the entire room. Wooden benches were also situated here and there, spaced evenly apart in front of some of the lockers as well. Overall, the room looked pretty normal—with the exception of some of the ceiling lights flickering on and off, thus creating a creepy atmosphere.

**_(SCRAPE… THUMP. SCRAPE… THUMP.)_**

For a split second, Kagome was unable to breath upon hearing the sounds of shuffling feet somewhere within the locker room. Without thinking, she practically jumped into one of the nearby open lockers and, with some difficulty, quickly shut the locker door closed. _'I can't believe I ACTUALLY squeezed into this small space!'_ She mentally exclaimed as she tried to move her arm a bit in the tight space, but found it difficult to do so without making some kind of noise. _'I hope that whoever's out there doesn't find me!'_ She then peered out through the small slits on the locker's door to see if anyone was coming, but found that no one was there.

**_(SCRAPE, SCRAPE… THUMP, THUMP. SCRAPE… THUMP. SCRAPE… SCRAPE…)_**

As Kagome continued to stand within the small locker in silence, her eyes suddenly widened upon just realizing that there were _more_ than just one person shuffling around inside the locker room… The question now was, how many?

A disturbing moan suddenly sounded, echoing throughout the entire room, which caused Kagome to almost jump in surprise. _'Oh my God! I'm stuck inside a locker with probably a DOZEN zombies out there!'_ She mentally exclaimed feeling even more panicked now. _'Crap! What the hell am I going do now?'_ She then peered out through the locker's slits once again and glanced over towards the door and found that the coast was all clear.

Hesitating a moment to take a calming deep breath and to gather some inner courage, Kagome then proceeded to open the locker door from the inside as quietly as possible. After successfully completing the task, she then quickly yet quietly darted for the door that led back into the office room. Upon reaching the door, she quickly turned the door's knob, but found that it was locked. _'What the hell? The door's locked!'_ She thought in frustration as she twisted the doorknob one last time before giving up. She then quickly retrieved the hairpin from within her pants pocket and started fumbling with the door's lock to try to unlock it.

By now, all of the zombies within the locker room had sensed all of the commotion that the teenage half-Demon was creating. As if it was some loud disturbing orchestra, the zombies all started moaning and shuffling their way towards the girl, craving her warm flesh in which they could detect.

'_Unlock you stupid thing!'_ Kagome mentally shouted as she continued to fumble with the lock with trembling hands. All of a sudden, the hairpin slipped out of her fingers and dropped onto the floor. Just as she was about to bend down to pick it up, she quickly glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a lone zombie lunge straight for her.

"AHH!" Kagome screamed in terror as the zombie grabbed a tight hold of both of her shoulders and pushed her up against the door. It opened its foul-smelling mouth and then lunged forward to take a bite from the right side of her neck, but she luckily was able to wrestle her left arm free in time and managed to hold the side of the zombie's face away from her so that the zombie couldn't bite her. Then, using all the strength that she had, she roughly shoved the zombie backwards, who then fell down onto the floor.

'_Shit! Where'd the hairpin go?'_ Kagome thought in panic as she frantically searched the floor for the hairpin. When she finally spotted it, she quickly retrieved it and then went back over to try and unlock the door again.

A couple of feet behind Kagome, the fallen zombie that she had just pushed down onto the ground was now starting to crawl towards her, _PLUS_ three more zombies—a hefty one over on the left and two others over to the right—just rounded the corners of the lockers, heading in her direction as well. She was so determined with trying to pick the door's lock that she was oblivious to how close all of the zombies were to her.

The hefty shuffling zombie on the left though was closer to Kagome than the others. When it reached about two feet away from her, it suddenly let out an unearthly sounding moan and then hungrily lunged itself right into her with outstretched arms.

Being caught off guard, Kagome was suddenly knocked down onto the ground with the hefty, disgusting, decomposing zombie right on top of her, snarling in her face. "GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!" She screamed fearfully as she tried to wrestle the heavy zombie off of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she also noticed that the zombie that was crawling was really close to her now as well. This caused her to panic even more, which made her loose her control of thinking straight.

As Kagome started thrashing about in panic, the zombie that was on top of her took the opportunity once it saw that her left forearm was exposed and quickly turned its head and bit down into her flesh with its yellow rotted teeth.

"AHH!" Kagome screamed out loud, feeling excruciating pain from her now-injured limb. Using her other arm, she started roughly punching the zombie in its face until it finally let go of her. She then forcefully shoved the zombie off to the side of her and then quickly rolled away from it in the opposite direction. But before she even had to chance to get up, the crawling zombie had suddenly reached out and grabbed a tight hold of her right leg and then forcefully bit down right through her jeans.

"AHH!" Kagome screamed out in agony as she immediately started using her other leg to kick the zombie in its face until it finally let go of her. She then quickly scrambled up off of the floor and started limping away from all of the zombies. _'I don't have time to unlock that damn door!'_ She mentally stated as she limped around the end locker's corner and then ventured down one of the random aisles while clutching her injured arm, trying to ignore the throbbing pain, as well as the pain within her leg. _'There has to be another way out of here!'  
_  
Kagome limped all the way down to the end of the aisle and then rounded the corner, heading down the next aisle, all the while continuing to search for another way out. So far, she found nothing. The only other way out of the locker room was through the locked door to the office room.

Just as Kagome was loosing hope, she suddenly glanced up at the ceiling and spotted some sort of large ventilation shaft that was placed above some of the nearby lockers in that aisle. _'I can probably escape through there!'_ She thought with a new sense of hope as she eagerly stepped up onto one of the nearby wooden benches that was in front of a few lockers. With all her might, she jumped up as high as she could and grabbed a hold of the top edge of the lockers and then with much effort, managed to hoist herself up onto the very top.

Breathing heavily from exhaustion and pain, Kagome took a moment to rest, upon seeing that she was safely away from the roaming zombies below, who were continuing to moan and wander mindlessly around the locker room, still searching for her.

After she was confident that she could continue, Kagome started carefully crawling across the top of the lined lockers on her hands and knees towards the spot in the ceiling where the ventilation grate was located. Once she reached the location, she then carefully reached up and grabbed a hold of the loose grate and started pulling down with as much strength as she could muster. After a few attempts, the grate finally gave away. Kagome then carelessly threw the metal grate covering down onto the ground below before she climbed up into the dark, large ventilation shaft and started crawling to who-the-hell-knows where.

* * *

After a few minutes of crawling through the pitch-black ventilation shaft, Kagome finally spotted some light that was shining up from another grate up ahead. When she finally reached the spot, she looked down through the grated covering and found that she was directly above a hallway somewhere. Her eyes eagerly peered through the grate to see if there was anyone or anything down below and she strained her ears to hear for any noises. _'…I don't hear or see anything down there, so I think it's safe to get out of here now.'_ She mentally concluded as she started pounding both of her fists down onto the loose grate.

After a few moments, the grate finally gave away and went crashing down onto the tiled floor below, creating a loud echoing sound within the entire hallway. Kagome stayed completely silent as she patiently waited in the ventilation shaft for about a minute or two to see if the loud noise attracted anyone or anything's attention. When nothing came, she carefully lowered herself feet first out of the grate opening and then dropped down onto the floor below.

Pain immediately shot up through Kagome's injured right leg the second she landed upon the ground. A muffled cry of pain escaped her lips as she bent down slightly and protectively hugged her injured leg to her chest. _'Damn it! It hurts so much!'_ She mentally exclaimed as her eyes started welling up with unshed tears from all of the pain that she was feeling at that very moment. She looked down at her injured leg and noticed that blood had already started seeping through her slightly torn jeans where the zombie had bitten her. She then glanced over at her injured forearm and noticed that blood was trailing all the way down to her hand as well. _'I have to stop the bleeding!'_ She rationally thought as she grabbed a hold of the very bottom of her pink mud-stained tank top and started ripping it until she had a long, decent-sized strip, thus causing her to have a sort of _belly shirt_ for herself now. She then tore the large strip of cloth down the middle to create two separate strips of cloth and then immediately started tightly wrapping each injured limb just slightly above the bite marks, so it would help to slow down the amount of bleeding.

After she had finished bandaging up her wounds, Kagome shakily stood up and placed her right hand over her now sweaty forehead. _'Why do I… feel so weak now all of a sudden?'_ She mentally questioned herself as her entire body swayed slightly due from the dizziness that she was suddenly feeling. _'I must've lost a lot of blood… I think.'_ She shook her head and tried to regain her normal balance. _'I better keep moving…'_

With much effort, the teenage half-Demon started to slowly limp down the hallway, while staying close to the left side of the wall, trailing her hands along the wall to help support her along so she wouldn't accidentally fall. There would be certain moments when she had no choice but to stop moving because the dizziness would become too overwhelming. Still, she continued on.

Before Kagome even made it half-way down the hallway, the sudden sound of a girl chuckling erupted from behind her somewhere. Startled, she immediately halted and quickly turned around to see who it was and found herself facing a girl, about a year or two older than herself, standing about two car lengths away from her with a smirk plastered upon her face. The girl had short black hair that was being held back with a red headband and she was wearing a matching black leather tube top, short mini skirt and knee-length high-heeled boots. _'She's must be Demon…'_ She mentally concluded as she noticed as her vision was starting to blur slightly, that the girl's eyes were a dark crimson color.

"Aww, I see that the little human girl got herself injured." The Demon girl mocked in an uncaring, sarcastic manner as she sighed in disappointment. "I was _so_ certain that those stupid zombies would've finished you off. Guess I was wrong…"

Kagome glared at the unknown Demon. "Who are you? What's going on here?" She demanded in a strict tone. _'SHE must've been the one that locked the office door on me!'_ She then angrily thought. Getting a little bolder now that she was angry, she spoke up again. "What do you want?"

The Demon girl, known as Yura just snorted. "Why should I tell you?" She smartly replied as she stubbornly placed both of her hands upon the sides of her hips. She then glared and smiled maliciously. "I'm just going to kill you anyway!" With that said, she suddenly sprinted forwards towards the human girl.

Before Kagome even had the chance to react, she suddenly found herself being forcefully slammed up against the nearby wall, being almost choked to death by the Demon girl. _'I can't… I can't breathe!'_ She thought in panic as she desperately flailed her arms and legs about, hoping to strike her attacker.

"Stay _still _you little _bitch_!" Yura angrily hissed through clenched teeth as she tightened her hold upon the human, after getting smacked in the face by one of the girl's flailing fists.

All of a sudden, a loud hiss-like sound echoed from somewhere down the end of the hallway from where Yura had previously came from. The strange noise alerted both of the girls' attention, causing them to both halt their actions as they turned their heads at the same time towards the direction of where the hiss sound came from.

At that very moment, a hideous looking creature emerged sideways from around the hallway's end corner, using its massive sharp claws to dig into the left side of the wall as it continued to crawl in a stalking-like manner towards the girls. The creature was about the size of a regular person—maybe even a few inches taller. Its entire body was made up of a disgusting red slimy tissue-like muscle, like its skin had been turned inside out or something. The top of the creature's abnormally deformed head was nothing but an exposed, pulsating bloody brain. There were no eyes or nose upon its face, but it did have a large, wide mouth. Its lips were currently curled back in an almost grinning manner, exposing many dagger-like razor sharp teeth. When the creature hissed at the girl's again, a very long, red tongue slid out from within its mouth, dangling off to the side a bit, causing saliva to continuously dribble down the side of its chin.

"_Shit_!" Yura quietly hissed in a fearful sounding tone as her eyes widened slightly, while she unconsciously loosened her grip from around the human girl's neck.

Kagome's eyes also widened with fear. "W-what the hell is _that_?" She exclaimed in an almost whispering tone as she watched as the creature continued to crawl/stalk towards them.

Yura nervously gulped. "That's one of the Corporation's earlier experiments. It must've escaped its cage once the power went out…" She informed, momentarily forgetting all about killing the girl. "It kills anything that gives off any type of body heat—even Demons like me." She gulped again. "Just don't… move."

Kagome did not reply, nor did she nod her head in acknowledgement either. She just continued to keep her eyes upon the creature, too paralyzed with fear to even look away.

Suddenly without warning, the creature growled as it quickly leapt from off of the side of the wall and tackled both of the now screaming girls onto the floor. The creature loudly hissed right in front of the girl's faces as it used its large clawed hands to pin them down onto the floor.

Yura screamed in pure terror as she started slashing violently at the creature with her own sharp claws, which appeared to be minuscule compared to the creature's own claws. As a last attempt to break free from the creature's hold, she forcefully dug her claws into its left arm, the one that was currently pinning her down onto the ground, and managed to draw blood. The creature immediately pulled its arm back, hissing and screeching loudly in pain. Taking the opportunity to escape, she quickly scrambled away from the creature and made a desperate run for it, heading down the hallway and finally out of sight.

Kagome on the other hand was still at the creature's mercy as it continued to screech and hiss from its injured wounds, while it still had her pinned to the ground. She didn't have the strength or her claws at the moment to fight the creature off of her. Yet despite her weaknesses, she still attempted to try and lift the creature's hand from off of her—even though it was pointless—while continuing to scream in fear.

The creature screeched one last time before it shook its head and then slowly leaned in towards the terrified girl's face, while large droplets of drool dripped off of its teeth and splattered down onto her forehead and cheeks. It hissed lowly as it opened its massive mouth even wider, getting ready to devour her until it all of a sudden halted its actions.

Dumbfounded and terrified, all Kagome did was stare up at the creature above her, wondering why it didn't attack her yet. _'What's it doing?'_ She mentally questioned in confusion.

The creature lowly growled and then slid its tongue over Kagome's face and neck as if it was _studying _her. After a short moment, the creature hissed one last time before it suddenly removed its clawed hand from off of her and then quickly leapt up and attached itself upside down onto the ceiling. Barely making a sound, the creature then quickly scrambled off in the direction of where Yura had fled to only moments earlier.

Still lying on the floor in the same position and breathing heavily from fear, Kagome took a moment to regain her composure before she slowly sat up from off of the floor. _'What… just happened? How come it didn't kill me?'_ She mentally pondered as she started wiping the creature's disgusting drool from off of her head and cheeks. _'Well, I'm sure as hell not going to stick around to find out!'_ After carefully picking herself up off of the floor, she then started limping down the hallway, heading in the opposite direction from where the creature had gone to.

After a few minutes of venturing down the hallway, continuous constant waves of dizziness were preventing Kagome from being able to continue on. Her injured limbs were also feeling even more painful now as well. _'I have to rest for a moment.' _She mentally stated as tears started running down both of her cheeks. _'My insides feel like they're on fire and I can't even think straight anymore! What's happening to me? Am I… going to die?'_ With that last thought, she suddenly collapsed down onto the floor and started crying out loud. She knew that making so much noise would most likely attract the attention of zombies or maybe even creatures like the one she'd just encountered minutes ago, but she didn't really care at the moment. So much had happened to her in the past two days; encountering freakish dead things, getting kidnapped, escaping death on more than one occasion, loosing her mother…

Just thinking about her mother made Kagome cry even more. She was scared, injured, filthy and alone. All she wanted to do was go back home and forget all about this unrealistic nightmare. "Inuyasha…!" She suddenly called out in a desperate, choked voice while still crying as she started desperately crawling on her hands and knees towards the nearest random door, her injured leg leaving a bloody trail behind her. "Please someone… help me!" When she finally reached the nearest door, she reached up as high as she could and turned the door knob. When the door opened, she crawled inside the small, dark space and closed the door behind her.

Before Kagome collapsed into total unconsciousness, she faintly heard Yura's tortured screams off in the far distance somewhere.

* * *

Breathing heavily from a massive adrenaline rush, Kagura continued her brisk walking down the hallway in which she was currently traveling down. Tucked under her right arm were the blueprints to the entire lab facilities and tightly clenched within her left hand was the 9mm handgun. She had discarded the flashlight long ago once she left the lower basement levels, due to the batteries dying out on her.

As Kagura made a quick left turn to venture down another hallway, she suddenly collided into someone's strong, muscular chest. Feeling dazed, she quickly backed up a few feet and looked up to see whom she had run into… and almost had a heart attack upon seeing that it was none other than Sesshoumaru, standing there glaring at her. _'SHIT!'_ She mentally screamed as she took a few more steps away from the intimidating male Demon.

Sesshoumaru just smirked evilly, sensing the nervousness and practically smelling the fear that was emitting from the female Demon before him. He also noticed that she was holding a copy of the lab facility's blueprints and a handgun. "Where are we off to in such a hurry, Kagura?" He coolly questioned as he continued to glare at her. "You're not planning on leaving now, are you?"

Kagura glared hatefully at the Demon. "Get out of my way, you bastard!" She angrily spat. "I've had enough of this Corporation's shit and I'm through with taking any more orders from _YOU_!" With that said, she attempted to walk past Sesshoumaru, but he quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her way. She pushed him and then angrily swiped her clawed hand at him, but he just simply dodged her attack. Fed up with playing games, she then aimed the handgun at the Demon's head and fired. Her aiming was poor and therefore resulted in missing her target by a whole three feet away.

Sesshoumaru chuckled at Kagura's futile attempts at trying to hurt him. In one easy swift movement, he knocked the gun from out of her hands and then reached over and tightly grasped her neck, lifting her high up into the air above him. She tried spitting on him, but ended up spitting on herself, which made him chuckle once more at the woman.

"Y-you bas-stard!" Kagura managed to utter as she desperately tried to pry the Demon's hands from off of her neck as she struggled to breathe.

Sesshoumaru just smirked and evilly glared. "Time to die, _bitch_!" He cruelly stated as he ran his other sharp-clawed hand right into the middle of Kagura's stomach and all the way out through the middle of her back.

Kagura gasped out in shock and pain at the excruciating feeling of her entire mid-section being unmercifully ripped through. The pain was so intense that she felt like passing out and screaming out loud at the same time, but would be damned to let that bastard have the pleasure of seeing her weak like that.

Satisfied with actions, Sesshoumaru grinned as he slowly withdrew his clawed hand from out of the Demon woman's stomach, as if to torture her even more, and then carelessly pushed her backwards down onto the hard floor, chuckling as he did so. He then turned around and started walking away down the previous hallway to somewhere.

"Y-you'll g-get what's coming t-to you…" Kagura muttered weakly as she tightly clasped her hands over the large, gaping bloody wound of her stomach, all the while coughing and sputtering up blood from out of her mouth. She could already feel her entire body growing weaker by the second, due from the intense amount of pain and blood loss from her wound. There was nothing she could do now except for to close her eyes and wait for death…


	8. Setting The Plan: Part 1

**Chapter 8: "Setting The Plan: Part 1"**

* * *

"WELL, DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME FIX THIS DAMN THING!" Manten shouted with frustration as he kept trying to connect some of the damaged wires that were hanging out from the control panels.

Kouga continued to ignore the other Demon as he stood in the center of the room with his back towards him, not bothering to respond to his childish outburst.

So far, it'd nearly been an hour and the two Demons were still in the Control Room trying to repair the damaged main control system that _somebody_ destroyed. The entire room was a mess! Broken switches and other gadgets lay scattered on the floor across the room from where they were once installed. Shards of glass and metal pieces were all over the floor as well. It also looked like someone smashed their fist into the control board and literally ripped out all of the wires, thus making it impossible to reactivate the entire control system.

'_Whoever did this made sure that no one could fix it again…'_ Kouga mentally stated as he once again surveyed the room. He then turned around and watched Manten curse under his breath as he continued messing with the wires. _'What a moron! He should know by now that he can't fix the damn thing!'  
_  
"PIECE OF SHIT!" Manten suddenly yelled as he kicked the bottom of the control board, making a huge indent in the metal. He looked over at the other Demon and glared. "_YOU_ fix the damn thing!"

"I can't you idiot!" Kouga growled out as he glared back at the other Demon. "Everything's in pieces and besides, I'M NOT A DAMN ELECTRICION!"

Manten just growled and stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest. "So what the hell do we do now then, smart-ass!" He smartly exclaimed.

"How the hell should I know!" Kouga snapped back.

Both Demons remained silent for a moment.

"So, what did ya think of that _'heart-wrenching'_ scene earlier?" Manten suddenly asked, while chuckling a bit. "I thought it was hysterical! That's what that little _bitch_ gets anyway!"

Kouga emitted a low, angry growl as he glared hatefully at the ignorant Demon.

"_What_?" Manten asked in a teasing, sarcastic manner. "You're not _angry_ with me about that, _are you_?"

"You're fucked up just like Sesshoumaru!" Kouga angrily spat. "You both deserve to DIE and ROT IN HELL for all the shit you've done!"

"Is that so, _pretty boy_!" Manten angrily replied thru gritted teeth as he started striding over towards the other Demon. "I'd like to see you _try_ and send me there!" With that last statement, he lunged at Kouga and managed to land a quick punch in his face, which sent him all the way across the room and right into a nearby wall.

Momentarily stunned, Kouga quickly composed himself and then sprinted back towards Manten. Upon nearing him, he jumped in the air and forcefully kicked the Demon right in the stomach, sending him flying back into the broken control board behind him.

Manten spat some blood from out of his mouth and growled. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" He loudly declared as he picked himself off of the floor and then immediately charged at Kouga again, who suddenly surprised him by doing a backflip, resulting with him being kicked right in the face. Although it was a powerful move, he somehow managed to stay on his feet though. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" He yelled in a rage-filled tone as he ran towards the Demon once again.

Kouga tried to jump out of the way in time, but the enraged Demon managed to grab a hold of his leg in mid-air and then threw him across the room into another wall. _'Damn it!'_ He mentally swore as he started to pick himself up off the floor, noticing that Manten was charging over towards him again. Reacting quickly, he managed to dodge out of the way though.

Manten snickered and started laughing like a crazed maniac. _'I'm going to enjoy ripping his limbs off, one by one!'_ He thought with a sick sense of humor as he turned around and started charging towards Kouga again.

Kouga readied himself in a defensive stance. _'How the hell can I bring this bastard down?' _He mentally questioned himself. _'It seems like all the attacks I make aren't affecting him!'_ As Manten approached him, he quickly reacted by doing a powerful leg sweep, which sent the heavy Demon face-first down onto the ground. He then quickly jumped back a few feet away from his fallen comrade. "GET UP AND FIGHT ME!" He demanded loudly as he kept a steady glare upon Manten's unmoving body. "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU! I SAID GET UP!" He waited for a couple of seconds before he cautiously marched his way over towards Manten. When he finally approached him, he curiously nudged the tip of his boot against the side of his ribs.

No movement whatsoever.

Growling in frustration and anger, Kouga used his foot and roughly pushed Manten's body over so that he was now lying on his back. He suddenly gasped in shock. "Holy shit...!" He mumbled in a surprised tone as he took a few shaky steps backwards away from the motionless Demon.

Sticking out of Manten's forehead was a large piece of a broken switch. Blood continued to pour out from the nasty wound, running down the front of his face, thus creating a large puddle of blood on the floor beside his body.

'…_The bastard had it coming to him anyway.'_ Kouga mentally stated with a grossed-out expression plastered upon his face as he quickly crossed the room and headed towards the exit. The thought of killing someone made his stomach turn, but this incident was purely accidental. Manten brought down his own demise anyway.

Without sparing another glance, Kouga exited the Control Room.

**

* * *

**

After going up a couple of flights of stairs, Kouga finally found himself on the second level of the lab facilities. Even though he had been at the facilities before, the place was still huge and confusing as ever. He didn't really know where he was going at the moment exactly, but it was better than being stuck in a room with a dead body at least.

As he continued walking down different corridors, he couldn't help but to notice how quiet and empty the second level was. He thought he would've run into a couple of zombies by now, but to his luck, there were surprisingly none so far. _'Most likely everyone was up on the other levels when the accident happened…'_ He mentally noted. _'Besides, all that's on this level are rooms for supplies and storage stuff.'_

Suddenly, the faint sound of someone groaning in the distance interrupted his thoughts. _'Guess I was wrong about this floor being deserted.'_ He thought as he made a disgusted face. _'There's NO WAY I'm going near any more zombies—EVER! Those things stink too damn much!'_ Just as he was about to turn around and walk back the way he came, he heard the groaning again, but this time it sounded a little… different.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Kouga decided that he'd better go check and see what it was. He cautiously started making his way down the hallway, getting closer towards the groaning. When he finally reached the end of that hallway, he slowly peered around the corner and to his horror, found his friend Kagura lying in a bloody heap on the floor, tightly clutching her fatally wounded and bloody stomach.

Kouga's eyes went wide with shock as he quickly made his way over towards the woman. "Kagura!" He exclaimed worriedly as he kneeled down beside her and then gently lifted her head up onto his lap to support her. "What happened?"

Kagura moved her head to the side and coughed a bit, spitting up some blood in the process. "S-sesshou… maru…" Was all she was able to reply with before she started coughing up more blood again. It was too painful for her to speak.

"Don't talk." Kouga quietly commanded as he shrugged out of his brown vest and quickly started wrapping it around Kagura's bloody abdomen. "I'm taking you to a medical room and fi—"

"It's t-too late… f-for me…" Kagura weakly stammered out, interrupting Kouga as she weakly pushed his hands away from her gushing wound that was seeping through the vest. She knew that her wound was too severe; she'd never make it in time to get the medical treatment that she needed. _'Besides, how can you help someone that has a large gaping hole in the middle of their stomach that goes all the way out thru their back?'_ She grimly thought to herself with a bit of sarcasm.

Kouga looked away from Kagura's pained expression. _'She's right. Her wound's too fatal and she's already lost a lot of blood. She'd never make it in time… and I'm not a doctor either…'_ He mentally stated, feeling angrily at knowing that his friend was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. _'DAMN YOU, SESSHOUMARU! YOU FUCKING HEARTLESS BASTARD!' _

Suddenly, a wave of intense pain shot up throughout Kagura's entire body, causing her to tense up and cry out in pain. Kouga held her tightly with one arm and used his other hand and firmly placed it on top of her wounded stomach to try to help slow down the bleeding, even though he new it was pointless.

Kagura slowly looked up at Kouga with tear-filled eyes, reminiscing back to how at first, she disliked him for the fact that he always did _everything_ he was ordered to do by Sesshoumaru, never asking any questions or putting up arguments… but then again, so did she. After awhile, they'd occasionally meet each other up on top of the Mansion's rooftop during their breaks. She'd just smoke her cigarettes while Kouga would ramble on about nothing in particular. Sometimes she'd add a thing or two to the conversation, but that was about it. Really, she just enjoyed being in his presence; for the fact that he was so nice and polite to her. The others were cold, heartless bastards—with the exception of Sesshoumaru's little half-brother, Inuyasha. She knew that he wasn't like the others either, but he always acted like a smart-ass around everyone and just kept to himself anyway.

Also, every time Kagura got pissed off over something that Sesshoumaru said to her, Kouga would always be there to listen to her vent out her frustration and hatred towards the evil spawn. Their friendship was strong and she trusted him with her life. And like herself, she knew that Kouga was also being forced to work for the Shikon Corporation. Their reasons were too personal of a matter and brought up bad memories, so they never shared that information with each other.

Slowly, Kagura reached down onto the floor beside her and grabbed the set of keys, and then handed them to Kouga. "S-start the main reactor… it will d-destroy… t-this evil p-place…" She quietly stuttered with an almost pleading expression upon her pain-stricken face.

Kouga gently grasped the hand in which his friend held the keys in. "I will." He declared in a determined tone. "I promise."

Kagura managed to grin slightly, for she knew that her loyal friend would complete the task. _'Goodbye… my friend…'_ She mentally spoke, too weak to even speak. Her eyes slowly closed and with one final exhaled breath, her life-force finally slipped out of the world of the living.

Kouga tightly held onto Kagura's body for a few silent minutes as tears of anguish rolled down his cheeks. Finally, he gently laid her body down onto the floor and said a silent prayer for her. He then stood up and put the set of keys into his left pants pocket. _'Don't worry Kagura; I'll destroy this place… AFTER I kill Sesshoumaru! He'll pay for what he did to you and Ayame!' _He mentally stated, feeling a renewed sense of anger as he glanced down at his friend's lifeless body one last time before he angrily stomped away to hunt down Sesshoumaru.

**

* * *

**

The rain poured heavily down upon Inuyasha as he jogged along the muddy garden's cobblestone pathway, heading towards the fountain's supposed secret entrance. It was pitch dark outside now, with the exception of a few garden lamps that somewhat dully lit the way. Thankfully, he didn't encounter any more zombies along his journey to this point, but it wouldn't be long now until _everything_ was roaming freely amongst the entire property. Plus, he had no idea what awaited him down in the lab facilities, but he guessed that it was probably filled with tons more of the undead and other _'things'_ that might've escaped after the accident.

A couple of months ago, he'd accidentally overheard a private conversation between his older half-brother and Jaken, discussing about the lab facilities and how they wanted to 'up' the security. That's when Jaken mentioned about changing the labs entrance location to a place where no one would suspect it. To make a long story short, they talked about constructing a large fountain at the end of the garden area and something about a 'medallion' being the only way to gain access to the entrance. Whether they followed through with the plan or not, Inuyasha didn't know. But right now, that was the only lead to where he could go next.

As Inuyasha continued making his way along the garden's pathway, he started thinking back to a conversation he'd had with Kouga—which was a rare thing—a few weeks ago. He found out that besides working on the "D-Virus"—also known as the "Demon Virus" or what Sesshoumaru liked to call it, the "Death Virus"—the scientists were starting to experiment on live animals and humans to see what the effects of injecting the virus directly into the bloodstream would be. Kouga didn't say anything more because Jaken suddenly made his usual appearance to tell them that _'Lord Sesshoumaru'_ called for him. But before Kouga had left, he mumbled something about, _"If any of those things ever escapes, we're all screwed." _Inuyasha didn't know what exactly _'those things'_ were, but he knew that it couldn't be good.

Finally, Inuyasha reached the fountain. He noticed that the fountain had been drained of its murky water and now exposed a set of stairs that led down to a nearby elevator shaft. Being careful as possible, he started making his way down the slick metal steps and then found himself standing on the platform, staring at the empty spot where the elevator lift should have been. _'Shit! How the hell am I gonna get down now?'_ He thought with frustration as he scratched the side of his head. He then spotted the elevator's thick cable that was attached to an overhead beam that was placed out about three feet away from the platform, which triggered an idea. _'I can use that cable and slide down!'_ He mentally exclaimed as he peered down into the black abyss until he could no longer see the elevator cable. _'Damn, how far down IS the lab anyway?'_

Shaking his head from further thoughts, Inuyasha backed up a few steps to get a little running start. After taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves down, he then ran and jumped out off the end of the platform as far as he could and miraculously grabbed a hold of the cable when he reached it. Because of his leather gloves being wet from the rain, he accidentally slipped down a couple of feet until he quickly wrapped both of his legs around the cable to stop himself, coming to a sudden halt. _'Christ! I thought I was a goner!'_ He mentally exclaimed, shaking slightly with fear as he cautiously started easing his way down the cable.

After what seemed like forever, Inuyasha finally reached the bottom of the endless pit—well, more like the top of the elevator lift. He then jumped off of the lift and landed down onto the solid ground. Taking a quick glance around, he noticed that there was only a tiny white fenced-in light giving off dim light and a solid steel door that was along the rugged stonewalls. Not wasting another minute of time, he quickly released the safety lock on his Magnum and then proceeded to the door.

Upon entering through the door, he found himself standing in a sort of waiting area, like that of a hospital's. There were a few gray leather lounge chairs spaced out along the walls and two matching sofa's that were facing each other. Medial magazines were sprawled out on top of the wooden coffee table that was situated in between the two sofas. Directly across the room was a large wooden receptionist's desk that had a computer and various office supplies and papers scattered upon its surface. Off to the right side of the desk was another door.

Seeing that there was nothing of importance in the room, Inuyasha quickly crossed the room and entered through the door. Now he found himself standing at the beginning of a long, dimly lit hallway. There were many closed doors on both the left and right sides of the walls, as well as bulletin boards spaced throughout. With the exception of a couple of scuffmarks upon the white tiled flooring, the hallway appeared to be pretty average looking, as well as abandoned.

Taking a hesitant step forward, Inuyasha started cautiously making his way down the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible. An eerie feeling was starting to build up within his gut the further he walked. _'It's WAY too quiet…' _He mentally stated as he used his free hand to rub the back of his goose-bumped neck nervously. Even the muffled clunking sounds from his boots connecting with the floor echoed within the hall, but it seemed to drown out in the immense silence.

Finally, he reached the end of the hallway and noticed a large directory board posted on the wall directly in front of him. The diagram displayed maps of each floor and there was a complete list of all the areas and floors of the entire lab facilities. After looking over the diagram for a few seconds, he found a _"You are here"_ star symbol on the first floor map, indicating that he was on the first floor. _'Where the hell would they've taken Kagome?'_ He mentally questioned, feeling frustrated as he re-scanned the directory list. There were so many levels and areas to choose from, that it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!

'_Let's see. Sesshoumaru's a twisted sick fuck, so he probably took her to one of those testing areas…'_ Inuyasha mentally trailed off. _'…But which one?' _There were only three testing areas to choose from: "Animal Behavior Testing", "Experimental Testing" and "Formula Testing". _'Hmm… I remember him saying that he had a 'surprise' for Kagome…'_ He then mentally stated, thinking back to what his half-brother had told him before he'd been taken down to the prison facilities. _'So, I'm guessing that they're on the… Experimental Testing Level.'  
_  
His decision made, Inuyasha did a quick check to see where the Experimental Testing Level was located, which was all the way up on the third floor. With a determined face, he then quickly made a right and started briskly walking down the hallway, heading for the main stairwell.

* * *

Within a matter of minutes, Inuyasha finally reached his destination. On his way up from the stairwell, he hadn't ran into anything and so far, he hadn't heard or seen anyone on the third floor as he continued wandering down several different hallways. _'I think I guessed the wrong floor. One of those idiots would've picked up on my scent by now if they were here.'_ He mentally concluded. _'Damn it! Now I have to go ALL the way back down to the first floor again to look at the map!' _Sighing in frustration, he paused for a moment to think and then suddenly smacked himself upside his head upon realizing something. _'Shit! I don't even remember how to get back to the damn stairwell!'  
_  
Standing in the middle of the hallway for a moment to think for a moment, he suddenly heard a faint, weird noise coming from somewhere further down another hallway. It sounded like a wet squishing or crunching sound, along with a soft, animal-like growl of some sorts as well. _'What the hell…?_' He mentally thought with a confused expression as he started quietly making his way towards the sound, keeping close to the left side of the wall and a steady finger on his Magnum's trigger.

The further he walked the louder and more disgusting the wet crunching sound became. His adrenaline was pumping at an alarming fast rate due to his nervousness and uncertainty at what possibly could be waiting for him down around the corner. It could be anyone or _anything_ for all he knew.

Finally, Inuyasha reached the end of the hallway. He kept his back up against the wall, taking a moment to calm down and get his breathing back under control. After a few seconds, he then carefully peered around the corner of the wall… and almost had a heart attack and puked at the same time.

Blood was _everywhere_! Gruesome splatters of it were on both sides of the walls and a large puddle was on the floor, underneath the mangled and lifeless body of Yura—well, what was left of her at least. There were large, deep gashes across her shock-expressioned face and her right arm looked like it'd been ripped out of the socket, along with her left leg too. Her entire mid-section was completely ripped open, which exposed the intestines and other unidentified pieces of bloody innards as well.

But what _really _shocked Inuyasha the most was the incredibly large, red grotesque beast-thing that was hovering over the body, devouring it. _'Holy shit…!'_ He mentally exclaimed in shock as his eyes widened in fear. _'I better get the hell outta here—FAST!'  
_  
Yura had been a full-blooded Demon and for her to be taken down by that _thing_ was just… insane! No human or animal could _ever_ defeat a Demon, so that meant that this _beast_ had to be twice as strong and even deadlier.

'_There's no way in HELL I'm gonna mess with that thing!' _Inuyasha mentally stated, swallowing hard. _'All I have to do is just quietly go back the way I came and pretend like I never even saw this whole incident…' _But before he even had the chance to move, the creature suddenly halted its actions and started growling loudly. It moved its massive deformed head up in Inuyasha's direction and bared its large, blood-stained dagger-like teeth at him. Even though it didn't have any eyes, it seemed to sense his presence still.

For a moment, Inuyasha couldn't think or even breathe. All he could do was stare at the horrifying creature before him, not knowing what action to take. Should he run? Should he just remain still? He didn't know what the hell to do! There were so many thoughts running inside his head at the moment that he couldn't even think straight! But when the creature suddenly started stalking towards him, he quickly snapped out of his thoughts and came back into reality once again and did the only rational thing that he could do. Quickly raising his Magnum, he randomly aimed it at the creature and fired. The bullet imbedded itself into the creature's sick red flesh, causing it to screech loudly in pain or annoyance. But regardless of how it felt, the creature continued stalking forward.

Inuyasha gulped nervously and proceeded to fire shot after shot at the creature, trying to aim for its head and chest, but he was no skilled sharpshooter and therefore missed a couple of times, completely wasting the bullets. _'Shit! It's not dying!'_ He thought in panic as beads of sweat started forming on his forehead. _'The gun's almost out of bullets and I don't think I'll have time to reload!'_

After firing three more rounds at the creature, Inuyasha suddenly heard the dreaded empty clicking sound of the gun, indicating that there were no more bullets in the gun's chamber. "FUCK!" He yelled with frustration as he quickly started jogging backwards back down the hallway, trying to distance himself with the creature even more as it continued to slowly pursue him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a nearby metal door and without thinking, he quickly reached over with his left hand and tried turning the doorknob. Once it opened, he practically jumped inside the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

The room in which he'd just entered appeared to be a small storage room. There were large wooden crates and many sealed boxes of all sizes scattered around the room with unknown medical supplies or equipment inside. Other than that, there was nothing else of importance contained within the room.

Taking advantage of the hectic situation, Inuyasha quickly took out the half-empty box of bullets from within his pants pocket and started reloading the Magnum with shaky hands. His heart was beating wildly and he was breathing so hard that it felt like he was suffocating.

**_(BAM!)_**

At the sudden impacting sound of the creature ramming itself into the front of the outside door, Inuyasha became startled and accidentally dropped two of the bullets that he'd been holding. He watched in horror as the bullets landed down onto the floor and then rolled off in separate directions, disappearing behind some boxes and crates. _'Damn it!'_ He mentally exclaimed in frustration as he fumbled with trying to load the last of the remaining bullets into the gun. Meanwhile, the creature outside continued to ram itself against the door, causing a large indent to form in the very center. The hinges were squeaking as well, indicating that the door wouldn't hold much longer.

Inuyasha backed up as far as he could go until his back met up against a tall stack of boxes. He swallowed nervously and got into a defensive stance, aiming the gun out in front of him, preparing for the creature to break through. He didn't have to wait long though, because after a few more collisions, the door finally gave in and came flying backwards, landing a couple of feet away from him. The creature was too large to fit through the doorway, so it screeched in anger and started slashing its massive sharp claws at the sides of the doorframe, trying to make it larger so it could enter inside the room.

Not wasting any time, Inuyasha immediately started firing once again at the creature, causing it to growl and screech every time a bullet connected with its flesh. After firing a few more rounds, the creature suddenly collapsed down onto the floor. But within a matter of seconds though, it slowly got back up on all fours and continued growling and clawing at the doorway again, even though it appeared to be weakening.

"DIE ALREADY YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Inuyasha shouted in anger as he fired two more shots, causing the creature to screech loudly again. It shook its head and swayed a bit as blood continued to pour out of its many wounds. It seemed dazed for a moment and therefore halted its actions.

Taking advantage of the short moment, Inuyasha quickly checked the gun's chamber and saw that there was just one bullet left. He suddenly felt sick inside, knowing that one bullet wouldn't be enough to kill the creature. _'I guess this is it then. I'm going to be dead in a few minutes.'_ He mentally stated with depression. _'I'm so sorry Kagome. I've failed you…'_ His face then suddenly contorted into an angry expression. _'NO! I'm NOT going to die! Not here, not NOW! Especially by that… THING!'  
_  
The creature finally regained its composer back and once again screeched at Inuyasha. In return, the angry half-Demon screamed right back at it and fired his last shot—and totally missed hitting his target.

Inuyasha's jaw dropped and his eyes widened in fear and shock. _'Shit! What the hell do I do now?'_ He thought with panic as he quickly glanced around the room for anything he could use to defend himself with. Suddenly, he felt something tightly wrap around his left ankle and before he could look, it forcefully pulled him down onto the floor. Dazed for a moment, he quickly glanced down at his leg and noticed that the creature had used its long red tongue to pull him down. Then before he had the chance to react, he felt himself being dragged quickly towards the creature's deadly, waiting mouth. Without thinking, he used his free hand and blindly grabbed a hold of a nearby large crate that was off to the side that had other heavy crates stacked on top of it. Now that he had something sturdy to hold on to, he used all of his strength and tried pulling away from the creature's grasp, but its hold on him was too strong.

As the half-Demon continued to struggle and kick out of the creatures' strong hold on him, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a shiny, metallic object that was nearby on the floor. When he turned to look, he instantly recognized it as one of the bullets he'd dropped just a few minutes ago. He still had a hold of the Magnum in his other hand, but unless he let go of the crate, he wouldn't be able to load the gun with it. _'What the hell is one bullet gonna do anyways?'_ He grimly thought to himself. _'Well, I'm dead no matter what so who the hell cares?'  
_  
The second Inuyasha let go of the box, he quickly reached out and grabbed the bullet as the creature resumed with dragging him closer to its salivating mouth. Remembering that he still had his survival knife with him, the half-Demon quickly grabbed the knife from off the side of his belt and then immediately started slashing at the creatures' tongue, causing it to screech loudly in agony. The creature instantly withdrew its tongue back and started growling and making some sort of whimpering sounds, momentarily forgetting all about its prey.

In the meantime, Inuyasha took the opportunity to quickly load the Magnum with the bullet. Just as he was about to pick himself up off of the floor, he felt the creatures' tongue once again latch onto his ankle. It growled in a threatening manner, apparently infuriated by its new injuries, and started dragging its prey even quicker this time.

When the creature finally dragged the half-Demon within just two feet it, it opened its mouth and screeched loudly in a victorious manner. That's when Inuyasha pointed his gun towards the creatures' open mouth, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

**_(BANG!)_**

As if in slow motion, the creatures' head involuntarily reared back, blood and brain matter splattering from out of the back of its massive skull. Because of its large body, the creature rocked forward and collapsed heavily down onto the ground, creating a loud _thud_ sound. Its entire body started shaking in a seizure-like way and after a few short seconds, all movement totally ceased. Thick red blood started pouring out from the inside of its mouth at an alarming fast rate, causing an enormous puddle to form underneath and around its lifeless body.

Inuyasha slowly opened his eyes and stared skeptically at the creatures' lifeless state before him. Breathing heavily, he quickly unraveled its tongue from around his ankle and then quickly scrambled backwards a couple of feet away from the body. _'Is it really dead or is it just messing with me?'_ He mentally questioned himself as he continued to keep his nervous eyes on the motionless beast.

About a minute or so passed by and still the creature did not move. Finally deciding to take a chance, Inuyasha shakily stood up and cautiously approached the motionless beast. _'Damn! Its entire body's blocking the door. That means I'm gonna have to step on its back to get out…'_ He mentally concluded as he observed the situation before him.

Taking a moment to calm down his nerves, the half-Demon held his breath as he stepped up onto the creatures' back. In a blink of an eye, he quickly jumped forward off its body and then landed out into the hallway. Breathing heavily, he quickly spun around to see if the creature had moved at all, but noticed that it was still motionless. Thankful that it was really dead, he let out a huge sigh of relief as he used the backside of his hand to wipe the sweat from off the front of his forehead.

All of a sudden, a loud metal clanking sound erupted from somewhere down the hallway in which Yura's body laid. _'Shit, now what?'_ Inuyasha dreadfully thought to himself. _'All I have left now is an empty gun and a survival knife. There's NO way I can kill anything with just a stupid knife, especially if it's one of those damn beast-things again!'_ Standing there for a moment, he contemplated on what he should do. Although he was paranoid, he was still curious about what caused the noise. So finally making up his mind, he decided to check out the situation and started making his way down the hallway towards the direction from where the noise had erupted from.

When Inuyasha turned the corner, he carefully stepped around Yura's mangled body and managed not to slip in all the blood that surrounded it. He then proceeded on down the rest of the hallway, making sure to keep as quiet as possible, just in case _something_ was around. When he finally reached the end of that hallway, he had two choices to pick from: either go left or go right. Glancing down the left hallway, he spotted nothing abnormal. But when he glanced down the right hallway, he saw something smeared on the floor in the distance.

Frowning, Inuyasha cautiously started making his way down the hallway in which the smeared substance was. When he finally reached it, he peered down closely at it and realized that it was blood. He also noticed that whatever had been bleeding, left a messy little blood trail.

Holding his survival knife protectively at his side, Inuyasha followed the trail of blood. After walking just a couple of feet, he noticed that the blood trail led him right to a door that was labeled _"Janitor's Closet"_ posted on the front. Cautiously stepping back, he used his free hand to turn the bloodied knob as he readied himself for whatever might jump out and attack him. Taking a deep breath, he then quickly jerked the door open and jumped back upon seeing a body lying in a tangled heap down on the floor. It was too dark to fully see inside, but he did notice an empty metal bucket lying on its side with a few cleaning supplies sprawled out next to the body. He mentally guessed that that may have been the source of the loud noise he'd heard just minutes earlier.

'_I wonder if that person's still alive or not?'_ Inuyasha mentally questioned as he approached closer to the body. To his somewhat relief, he could faintly hear the sound of the person breathing. Although it sounded ragged, it was still a sign of life.

All of a sudden, the person started softly mumbling something incoherently. It obviously sounded like a woman's tone. "Inu… yasha…" The woman then suddenly breathed out, followed by more incoherent mumbling.

Inuyasha's eyes widened with shock upon finally recognizing who the woman was. "Kagome…!" He blurted out in a surprised tone.


	9. Setting The Plan: Part 2

**Chapter 9: "Setting The Plan: Part 2"**

* * *

**_(Kagome's POV)_**

The only thing that surrounded Kagome was darkness. She couldn't tell if her eyes were open or not, or whether she was dreaming or dead. She couldn't even recall how many times she'd slip in and out of consciousness so far. The only sounds that she could hear were her own ragged breathing and the loud thumping of her heart, which seemed to be beating slowly. All she knew was that she was injured badly and stuck in a tiny space with terrifying creatures possibly lurking outside the door.

She felt weak, tired and dirty. To put it more clearly, she felt like shit. Her left forearm and right leg hurt like hell and she was feeling really dizzy and nauseated. She wanted to scream out her fear and frustration so badly, but knew that it pointless. Besides, she didn't think that she'd even have enough energy to do so. It was pathetic.

Her thoughts suddenly drifted onto her parents. In the past 48 hours, she'd learned that they'd been both murdered by the same person: Sesshoumaru. And the fact that she had to personally put her zombified mother out of her undead misery didn't make her feel any better. Just that thought alone disgusted her.

Tears started streaming down Kagome's cheeks and a weak sob escaped from her lips. _'I just want to die!'_ She thought miserably. _'There's nothing more to live for… Besides, I'm as good as dead anyway in my current condition, so what's the point in trying anymore?'_ She continued to quietly sob for a few more minutes until the pain inside her chest became too unbearable to do so anymore. She started to violently cough, which caused that queasy feeling within her gut to build up so fast that she barely had time to react as she quickly turned her head to the side and then vomited down onto the floor beside her. After she was done emptying the contents from out her stomach, she just weakly turned away from the disgusting mess and leaned her head on the nearby wall. '_I'll never make it out of here alive…' _She mentally stated in depression. More tears started welling up within her eyes as she thought of her little brother, whom was waiting for her back at their tiny apartment. _'Oh Souta… I'm so sorry…' _She sniffled. _'It's not fair, damn it! Why does it have to be this way? WHY?'_ Her worried thoughts then went to Inuyasha, wondering if he'd somehow escaped from the prison or not. _'If he did escape, I hope he gets as far away from this evil place as possible…'_

Faint _BOOM_ noises followed by what sounded like an animal screeching suddenly interrupted Kagome's thoughts, which caused her to hold her breath out of fear. Then everything became silent. At first she thought she was just hearing things, but after a moment, she heard the same sounds again. '_Oh God, what if that THING is coming back here to get me?'_ Her disoriented mind declared in panic as she started breathing heavily and remained deathly still, not wanting to make any movements whatsoever.

After a few more minutes, all the commotion suddenly ceased and became silent once again. This time, it stayed permanently silent. _'…I wonder what's going on out there?'_ She mentally wondered as she strained to hear for any more noises. In the back of her mind, she started thinking about that hideous red creature again, which caused her to become more paranoid and frightened. _'I need something to defend myself with!' _She mentally declared as she blindly reached around within the small, pitch black space, searching for just about _anything_ she could use for a possible weapon.

Reaching up just above her head, she felt some sort of low metal shelf. Sliding her finger tips along the edge, they finally came into contact with something solid. She then impatiently fumbled with the weighted object until it finally teetered over the edge of the shelf… and instantly collided with the top of her head. The heavy object then landed down loudly onto the floor and rolled a few feet away from her.

Kagome immediately whimpered in pain as she placed both of her hands up onto her now throbbing, sore head and then curled up into a fetal position in the corner of the small space. She didn't know what the hell fell on top of her head, but whatever it was just made her feel even worse now. '_Damn it! I'm such a klutz! That noise HAD to have attracted that monsters' attention now!' _She thought in panic as a sudden powerful wave of dizziness engulfed her. She softly groaned as she felt her entire body growing slack and struggled to keep her fluttering eyelids open, but to no avail. Her body involuntarily swayed and before she toppled down onto the floor and became unconscious, she unknowingly called out Inuyasha's name…

**_(End of Kagome's POV)_**

* * *

"Kagome…!" Inuyasha blurted out in a worried tone as he quickly kneeled down beside the fallen girl and checked to see if she was still alive and breathing. To his great relief, he discovered that she was, but appeared to be unconscious. He softly tapped the side of her cheek to try and wake her, but she wasn't responding. Giving up, he gently turned her over onto her backside so he could take a look at her injuries and immediately gasped in shock at what he saw.

Her left arm and right leg were bound up with blood-soaked pieces of torn fabric, which he assumed came from her now ripped-in-half pink tank top. Dirt marks were streaked on her exposed arms and stomach, as well as on her jeans and the rest of her remaining tank top too. A small amount of blood from an injury atop her head caused a thin trail of blood to streak down the front of her sweaty forehead. Her cheeks were also slightly smudged with dirt and they appeared to be flushed as well.

Inuyasha gently placed his hand over Kagome's forehead and felt that it was really hot, indicating that she had a severe fever. "Christ…" He softly murmured to himself as he tucked the Magnum and survival knife back onto the side of his belt and then gently gathered up the injured girl into his arms and stood up with some difficulty.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd been attacked by a zombie. Not only had she been bitten once, but TWICE! The virus was apparently already within her body's entire system, due to the fact that she was already showing signs of infection. If he didn't act fast and find a cure of some sorts, then she too would become another innocent victim as well.

Inuyasha's newfound goal fueled his determination and strength as he started briskly venturing down hallway after hallway, all the while holding Kagome protectively to his chest as he desperately searched around for a medical room of some kind where he could take care of her wounds. _'Damn it! Isn't there a Nurse's room or something on this level?'_ He thought in frustration as he rounded a corner and continued on down another seemingly endless corridor.

About halfway down that hallway, a sudden loud _thump_ noise erupted from somewhere within the silent area, causing Inuyasha to stumble slightly out of surprise. He stopped walking for a moment upon hearing the sound again, which was followed by more thumps. It sounded like something was beating up against one of the wooden doors that he'd just walked past only moments ago. Not wanting to deal with whatever it was that was making all that noise, he resumed his journey and quickened his pace up even more.

When he finally got to the end of that L-shaped hallway, he rounded the corner and noticed that the next hallway was a long straightaway that had a door at the very end. A small sense of hope and relief washed over him upon spotting the small white sign labeled "Stairwell" at the very top of the door. But then a nervous, sick feeling built up within his gut upon seeing that along both sides of the hallway's walls was nothing but large glass windows. Inside the rooms behind the glass was pitch black, obscuring the contents which lied within.

'_Shit…' _Inuyasha mentally swore as he nervously gulped, hesitating a moment before slowly making his way down the hallway. Picking up his pace a little more, he kept his sight focused intently on the door at the end. Out of the corner of his eyes though, he could still catch a glimpse of the darkened rooms, which was really freaking him out to the point where he was starting to sweat.

Suddenly, a loud '_thump_' sound erupted against the nearby glass window that was off to Inuyasha's left. He jumped slightly from being startled and immediately reacted by turning in the direction from where the noise had come from… and gasped in surprise/horror at what he saw.

One of the undead scientists inside the darkened room had its disgusting face and hands pressed up against the window, staring at the teenage half-Demon with its glassed-over white eyes. The zombie scientist's white lab coat appeared somewhat tattered and smeared with dried blood and other unidentified stains. Its face was also half decayed, thus displaying patches of jaw and cheek bone, indicating that the scientist had been dead for quite some time.

The zombie scientist moaned and started repeatedly beating up against the window with its hands. This action caught the attention of the other surrounding zombies within that room as well as the zombies over in the other darkened room across the hallway. Within a matter of seconds, about twenty zombies all together made their appearances known and started beating up against the glass windows, like their fellow undead comrade. Mixing along with all the hands beating up against the windows, a loud, annoying chorus of anguished moaning started echoing within the hallway as well.

'_Oh shit!'_ Inuyasha mentally exclaimed in panic as he slowly started walking backwards down the way he previously came from. _'There's NO WAY I'm taking the chance of walking past those suckers! They might break through the glass…'_

As if on cue, three zombies on the right side managed to break through a pane of glass and all together, tumbled out and fell down onto the ground. Two of them drunkenly picked themselves up off of the floor and started staggering towards the teen, while the other one started crawling on the floor towards him. Some of the other zombies soon followed suit and tumbled out from the broken window as well.

Inuyasha quickly whipped around and started making his way as fast as he could back down the previous hallway. As he turned the corner, he heard the sounds of more glass breaking, indicating that more of the zombies had busted out from inside the darkened rooms. He tried quickening his pace up, but it was somewhat difficult for him since his strength was diminishing from holding Kagome all this time.

Just as he was about halfway down the middle of that hallway, a wooden door up ahead suddenly swung open, and out staggered four zombified mechanics, all wearing tattered and blood-soaked blue overalls. Two of the zombies were wearing yellow construction hats as well.

"FUCK!" Inuyasha loudly yelled in frustration as he immediately halted, trying to quickly decide on what to do. _'There're too many zombies back down the other way—it'd be like going straight into a death trap!'_ He mentally reasoned as he started taking slow steps backwards away from the approaching four zombies. _'Maybe I can make it past these four… No. I'll most likely get bitten. …SHIT! WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW?'_

As he kept on backing away from the four approaching zombies, he started hearing the sounds of more shuffling feet coming from around the previous corridor. Those zombies were still a lengthy distance behind him, but it'd only take a matter of minutes before they eventually caught up to him.

Inuyasha's heart was rapidly beating within his chest and sweat started trickling down the sides of his temples as he kept nervously glancing back and forth between the two groups of zombies that were steadily closing in on him. He felt Kagome, who was still unconscious, stir a bit within his arms as she quietly mumbled something incoherently. Her sudden movement reminded him that, not only was _her_ life in danger, but _his_ as well. _'I have to get out of this hallway!'_ He mentally declared as he unknowingly backed up against the nearby left wall. His back instantly connected with a door knob and without giving it a second thought, he quickly reached down and tried twisting the handle, but discovered that it was locked. He then quickly crossed over to the opposite side of the hall and tried another nearby random door, but discovered that that door too was locked as well.

"Damn it!" He angrily cursed to himself as he glanced down at Kagome's unconscious form. A cruel idea suddenly popped up in his mind, about leaving her behind as "bait" for the zombies and while they were distracted, he could slip past them and make a run for it. _'NO! There's no way I'd stoop that low just to save my own ass!' _He mentally exclaimed, feeling momentarily disgusted with himself for even thinking about something so evil such as that.

All of a sudden, one of the closest zombie mechanics quickly lunged forward towards Inuyasha, but he quickly side-stepped out of the way and then kicked the zombie in the gut, which sent it stumbling backwards right into two of its fellow comrades. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" He angrily shouted as he quickly glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the large mob of zombie scientists were now only a mere ten feet away from him. He then quickly turned his attention back to the zombie mechanics, which were all literally an arms reach away from him. Panic flooded within his mind and entire body as he tried keeping an even distance between all of the zombies, not knowing what else more he could do.

"HANG ON INUYASHA!" A voice suddenly hollered, which sounded like it came from the corridor where the darkened rooms were located.

Surprised, Inuyasha quickly spun around just in time to see Kouga pummel straight into the middle of the large group of zombie scientists and randomly started decapitating some of their heads off with his razor sharp claws. Ignoring the zombies that still remained, he then immediately sprinted forward, running straight past the half-Demon teen and took care of the zombie mechanics. "Are you two all right?" He sternly questioned over his shoulder while he proceeded to wipe the blood from off of his hands onto the front of his pants.

"Y-yeah…" Inuyasha stuttered in a dumbfounded tone, but quickly switched back to his normal, arrogant self. "What the hell are you doing here anyway? I thought you were—"

"There's no time to talk!" Kouga suddenly interrupted as he turned around and glared in annoyance at Inuyasha, while holding his left arm out towards him. "Let me carry Kagome and follow me!"

Inuyasha glared at the older Demon. "HELL NO!" He angrily yelled in a defiant tone while clutching Kagome protectively to his chest. "WHY SHOULD I TRUST—"

"IF YOU WANT THE GIRL TO LIVE, THEN LISTEN TO ME DAMN IT!" Kouga shouted back and then resumed in his normal tone of voice. "I can already sense how weak and tired you've become, and you'll just make yourself even worse if you keep on continuing to carry her in your current state, you moron!"

Still glaring, Inuyasha didn't respond, but knew that what Kouga had said was right. He hesitated for a split-second before finally handing Kagome over to the older Demon's awaiting arms.

"This way!" Kouga stated as he started jogging off down the hallway, with Inuyasha right on his heels.

* * *

A few minutes later, after going down a flight of stairs and traveling down several different corridors, Kouga had led Inuyasha to some sort of small medical office, in which he had to use a key to get into. The room contained two large metal cabinets with glass doors which exposed the many different kinds of bottles that contained unknown serums and other types of medicines. There was also a small oak office desk that had a computer on its surface and a black leather chair underneath it, a short metal filing cabinet next to the desk and lastly, a six foot plain metal table in the very center of the room. An overhead light situated above the table emitted just enough dull light to see.

Without saying a word, Kouga gently laid Kagome down onto the metal table and then made his way over to one of the metal cabinets, searching inside for whatever it was that he was looking for.

In the meantime, Inuyasha choose to remain at Kagome's side. She was still unconscious and her breathing was getting more ragged with each breath that she took. _'She's getting worse…'_ He thought with worry as he carefully brushed away a few strands of her bangs from off of her closed eyelids.

Just then, Kouga approached the opposite side of the table and opened a large white tin box with the words "First Aid" printed in red lettering. He took out some large butterfly band-aids, a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a bag of cotton balls and a large roll of white gauze bandaging. Working quickly yet carefully, he used one of his sharp claws to tear away Kagome's makeshift bandages from off of her injured arm and leg, and started pouring the bottle of peroxide directly onto the bite wounds. "How long ago was she bitten?" He questioned without even looking up as he continued to briskly clean and wipe away the dried blood, and then repeated with pouring the medicinal liquid over the wounds.

"I don't know." Inuyasha stated in a low tone as he watched the older Demon work. "I just only recently found her lying in a Janitor's closet, already unconscious."

Kouga said nothing as he threw the blood-stained cotton balls down onto the floor and then briskly walked over to the metal cabinet again, searching inside for something else. "Can you put some of those butterfly band-aids on her wounds for me, please." He asked in a stern tone, continuing to search for whatever it was that he was looking for.

Inuyasha did as the older Demon requested and carefully applied the bandages to Kagome's bite wounds. Afterwards, he took the gauze and started to securely wrap the wounded areas, so the band-aids would stay in place. By the time he finished, Kouga had already made his way back over to the table and starting filling up a thin, empty medical needle with a strange purple liquid serum.

"What the hell's that?" Inuyasha quickly demanded as he suspiciously eyed the Demon.

"It's the anti-virus for the D-Virus" Kouga stated as he tapped the side of the needle and then pushed some of the liquid out from the tip of needle, to make sure there were no air bubbles inside the tube. He then gently grabbed a hold of Kagome's right arm and lowered the needle downwards towards a visible vein, preparing to give her the shot. But just before the needle could make contact with her skin, Inuyasha had suddenly smacked the needle from out of his hands, thus sending the needle across the room and shattering down onto the hard floor. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He angrily shouted as he glared and growled at the half-Demon teen.

"THERE'S NO WAY I'M LETTING YOU INJECT THAT SHIT INTO HER!" Inuyasha angrily shouted back, glaring as well.

"The only way to cure her is with the anti-virus, you fucking moron!" Kouga smartly stated through gritted teeth. "Now I have to search for another antidote which could be _ANYWHERE_ in this damn facility, thanks to _YOU_, you shit-head!"

Inuyasha growled. "I don't trust _ANYTHING_ that's made from this damn corporation!" He angrily spat. "I don't care what the hell it is!"

"Well, it's the only thing that we _got _right now that'll save Kagome's life!" Kouga smartly retorted back.

Inuyasha growled. "How the hell do you know if that shit even works or not? And how come all of a sudden you wanna help us out?" He smartly questioned in a skeptical tone. "You locked me up in a fucking cell earlier and now you're trying to play a _hero_? What the fuck?"

Kouga just glared and said nothing. He then quickly turned his head to look away from the half-Demon and just blankly stared at nothing in particular. After a paused moment, he finally spoke up. "A couple of years ago, my girlfriend Ayame suddenly disappeared one morning when she went out for a morning jog near the woods." He started to say in a painfully low voice. "No one had seen or heard from her in days."

Inuyasha remained quiet as he continued to listen to the Demon's story, while gazing down at Kagome's face with a stern expression.

"Days turned into weeks, and then weeks turned into months. The police finally just deemed it as a "run away" case and gave up the search, since they couldn't find any clues whatsoever to her disappearance." Kouga stated, growling slightly. "So, that's when I took matters into my own hands and went out to search for her myself. I was out for days, searching for her in the Arklay Mountains, calling for her… Somehow, I stumbled upon the Mansion and before I knew what the hell was going on, I'd been captured and interrogated on what I was doing in that area." He paused for a moment, swallowing uneasily. "To make a long story short, I found out later that some of the Corporation's bastards kidnapped Ayame because they needed a new _'guinea pig'_ for one of their sick experiments." His face then contorted into a dark, pained expression. "They turned her into some kind of fucking _monster_ and then killed her right before my eyes…!" He started growling and unknowingly clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "I fucking snapped and killed all those bastards… but Sesshoumaru was the only one who was able to stop me. He said that he'd kill off my entire family if I didn't cooperate and work for him…!" He angrily spat through clenched teeth. "So, I had no choice…"

Inuyasha remained silent, finally understanding Kouga's situation. Deep down, he felt sympathy for him, knowing exactly what it was like being a slave to someone who was powerful enough to hold the life of a loved one over your head as a bribe in order to keep them alive as long as you obeyed his every command…

Kouga abruptly turned and faced Inuyasha once again. "Kagura's dead now, too." He stated with an emotional expression upon his face.

Both guys' attention was suddenly disrupted by Kagome, who unconsciously grunted in pain.

"Isn't there anything else besides the anti-virus that we could use to help her?" Inuyasha asked in an urgent tone as he wiped some sweat off from the injured girls' forehead.

Without saying a word, Kouga quickly made his way back over to the medical cabinet and started searching inside. About a minute later, he came back to the table with a new empty needle and a small bottle of some kind of unknown serum. "This should slow down the effects of the virus in Kagome's system, as well as numb any kind of pain that she's feeling." He stated as he started repeating the process of preparing another needle. "Hopefully she'll hold out 'till sunrise, when both of your Demon blood kicks back in." He then carefully inserted the needle into a vein on Kagome's left arm and slowly injected the clear liquid into her bloodstream. Afterwards, he placed a small cotton ball over the tiny wound and then put a band-aid over top of it to hold it into place. He then looked over at the half-Demon teen with a serious expression upon his face. "Listen Inuyasha, we need to get out of here as soon as possible—"

"Yeah, _AFTER_ I kill Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha rudely interrupted. "There's no way I'm leaving here _UNTIL_ I get that bastard for all the shit he's done!"

"_I'LL_ deal with him. You worry about getting Kagome and yourself out of here." Kouga bluntly stated in an orderly tone as he walked over to the desk and started searching in the drawers for possibly another First Aid kit, but found that there was none.

"HELL NO!" Inuyasha angrily shouted with a glare upon his face. "You're not the only one that wants revenge against that bastard!"

Kouga turned around and glared at the younger half-Demon teen. "Aren't you forgetting that you're completely _human_ right now?" He stated in a matter-of-fact tone with an annoyed expression upon his face. "_I _hardly stood a chance with him when we fought last. What makes you think that _you'll_ do any better—especially in your current condition?"

Inuyasha just snorted defiantly. "I can take him!" He smartly replied as he stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Kouga growled. "YOU DAMN ARROGANT FOOL!" He shouted in anger as he quickly crossed the room and then roughly grabbed a hold of the front of Inuyasha's black tank top, bringing the teen face to face with him. "HE'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN LAND A PUNCH ON HIM!"

Still glaring, Inuyasha roughly pushed Kouga away from him and said nothing, knowing that once again, the older Demon was right.

"Inu… Inuyasha?" Kagome weakly mumbled all of a sudden as she slowly started to open her eyelids.

Inuyasha reached over and gently grabbed a hold of Kagome's right hand. "I'm right here, Kagome." He quickly replied in a soft tone as he used his other hand to affectionately stroke back some of her hair away from her face.

After blinking a few times, Kagome's blurry vision became normal once again. She looked up at Inuyasha's worried face for a moment before she tried sitting up from her current lying position. She still felt extremely weak, so Inuyasha had to aid her in her task. "Where… are we?" She quietly questioned as she started looking around at her new surrounding.

"We're in a Medical Office." Kouga answered for her.

Surprised, Kagome immediately turned around to see who spoke, but soon regretted the action because the sudden movement caused her head to throb with dizziness. She quickly placed both of her hands on the sides of her temples and closed her eyes. "Wh-what's going on?" She mumbled in a confused tone.

"We're getting out of here." Inuyasha sternly stated as he placed a comforting hand on her back and then looked over at Kouga. "All _three_ of us."

Kouga shook his head in disagreement. "I already told you what my first priority is, Inuyasha!" He retorted with an annoyed expression upon his face.

Inuyasha growled. "Look, _our_ first priority is to get Kagome out of here and to a safe place!" He argued back as he glared at the Demon.

For the next few minutes, both guys continued to disagree and argue over the current situation, totally forgetting all about Kagome.

But she wasn't paying any attention to them anyway. She just continued to massage the sides of her temples, which was slowly helping to get rid of the dizziness._ 'I can't believe I'm still alive…!' _She mentally exclaimed to herself as she glanced down at her newly bandaged arm and leg. She hesitated a moment before she moved her injured limbs a bit and to her surprise, didn't feel any pain whatsoever. _'My wounds…! They don't hurt anymore…! But, they feel kind of tingly… like they're numb or something?'_

"FINE THEN!" Kouga suddenly shouted, which startled Kagome and caused her to pay attention to what was going on between him and Inuyasha.

"We'll get Kagome to safer grounds _first_ and then _both_ of us will head back here to finish off Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha firmly stated. "Then we'll bury this damn place for good!"

"Whatever." Kouga huffed as he stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest. "But just remember that this was _your_ call, pal! So, if something happens or you get killed, you better not damn well blame it on me!"

* * *

After a few more minutes of conversation, the three of them were finally on their way to the Weapons Storage Room, which was located somewhere close by on that floor, to get some ammunition and guns for Inuyasha, which he insisted on having since he was practically 'defenseless'.

Within a matter of about five minutes, they finally reached the desired location. Once inside the storage room, Inuyasha immediately started searching around for more Magnum bullets for his gun and other powerful firearms, while Kouga just patiently stood near the door and waited, while holding Kagome within his arms, since she was still too weak to walk on her own.

Kagome felt a little uncomfortable being held by Kouga, for the fact that he knew all along that Sesshoumaru had been the one who killed her parents and then also didn't do a damn thing to help her out when she was locked in a room with her undead mother. But being the nice and forgivable person that she was, she forgave him—only _after_ he first gave her a heartfelt apology and told her a brief summary of his own story, the one he'd told Inuyasha earlier.

Sighing in exhaustion, she glanced around the large, heavily equipped room. Anything and everything that you wanted or ever dreamed of having could be found there! Rows upon rows of several different kinds of automatic guns and melee weapons such as military knives, etc., lined the steel walls, as well as holsters and other types of firearm equipment. There were also many well-stocked metal cabinets that contained ammunition and thousand of gun clips. She also noticed a large red cargo crate situated on the floor in the very back of the room that had the word _"Grenades"_ printed in black lettering on the side.

Kagome's eyes widened in slight fear as she continued to stare at the red crate, the color suddenly reminding her of the large creature that she'd encountered some time ago in the hallway. _'That monster's still out there somewhere!' _She mentally exclaimed in panic. _'I have to warn the others!'_

Sensing Kagome's sudden change in scent, he looked down at her with a worried expression upon his face. "What's wrong?" He asked in a quiet tone.

"I-I just remembered that some large red monster-thing with a really long tongue attacked me and some Demon girl earlier! It had us both pinned down on the floor, but that girl somehow got away!" Kagome started to explain in a rushed tone, leaving out the part where the Demon girl attacked _her _just moments before that incident. "I thought that it was going to kill me, but it just… _licked_ me and then took off!"

Overhearing her short story, Inuyasha just snorted. "Oh _that_ thing," He mumbled in an annoyed tone as he continued stuffing his pants pockets with Magnum bullets. "I already took care of it… damn thing nearly killed me, too!"

Kagome let out a relieving sigh, but then frowned in confusion. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but how come that thing didn't kill me? I thought for sure it would—"

"It probably sensed that you were infected with the virus and was on the verge of death." Kouga interrupted, answering her question. "From what I learned, that type of monster, ironically known as a _"Licker"_, feeds only on healthy prey."

Kagome blinked in surprise. "You mean there are _more_ of those creatures around here?" She exclaimed in disbelief.

Kouga nodded. "Yes… as well as a bunch of other different creatures, too." He stated informatively, glaring over at the back of Inuyasha's head as he continued stocking his pants pockets up with more bullets. "That's why we need to get out of here… like sometime this century_, Inuyasha_!"

"Huh?" Inuyasha blurted out in a dazed tone as he turned around with a set of Uzi's in both hands. He also had his Magnum tucked on the side of his belt along with a 9mm handgun and two sets of black leather straps crossed in an _'X'_ over the front of his chest, lined with Uzi clips. The only things that were missing from his "Rambo" look were a large survival knife and a camouflaged bandana!

Kouga snorted in annoyance. "We're wasting time!" He smartly stated. "Take _ONLY_ what you _NEED _and let's get the hell out of here already!"

Inuyasha frowned. "I _am_ ready." He stated with a glare.

With that last statement, the three of them finally exited the room.

* * *

Several minutes had gone by and Kouga, who was still carrying Kagome, and Inuyasha had managed to reach all the way up to the fifth floor. They had run into a few zombies here and there, but managed to slip past them unharmed—thanks to Inuyasha's Uzi's.

"All we need to do now is reach the sixth floor," Kouga called over his shoulder as he continued to jog down the hallway with Inuyasha trailing closely behind him. "The old stairwell entrance is located there, which leads up to the outside surface."

Kagome's face beamed with hopefulness. _'We'll finally be out of this place for good!'_ She thought with relief as her heart raced with excitement at the thought of escaping from this unrealistic nightmare.

As the small group turned the corner to go down another hallway, Kouga had suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, causing Inuyasha to collide straight into his back.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Inuyasha smartly demanded as he peered around the Demon's back to see why he stopped—and immediately froze.

Standing at the very end of that hallway was none other than his older half-brother, Sesshoumaru.

Inuyasha growled. "YOU BASTARD!" He angrily hollered as he watched as Sesshoumaru just casually turned around and started walking away, all the while chuckling. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" He then loudly demanded as he immediately sprinted off after him. Unbeknownst to him, his handgun accidentally slipped off from his belt and fell down onto the floor.

"INUYASHA, WAIT!" Kouga called out as he watched as Inuyasha disappeared around the corner after his half-brother. Growling in frustration, he carefully let down Kagome so that she was now standing on her own. "I'm going after him." He stated as he quickly bent down and retrieved the fallen handgun, and then handed it to Kagome. "Take this and stay here. We'll be right back, ok?"

Kagome bit her bottom lip nervously. "B-but I don't want to be stuck out here all by myself!" She complained in a stuttering tone as she glanced around the hallway in a paranoid manner. "And besides, I don't even know _how _to shoot a gun!"

"You'll be fine." Kouga reassured as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder for a quick second. "I didn't sense anything funny on this level, so there's really nothing to worry about." He then gave her a quick demonstration on how to switch on/off the gun's safety and how to aim properly, and then immediately took off down the hallway after Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

After she could no longer hear the sounds of Kouga's running footsteps, Kagome carefully limped backwards until her back met up against the nearby wall. With shaky hands, she held the gun down out in front of her in a protective manner. She wanted to be ready just in case anything should happen to wander her way. _'Oh yeah, I'll be fine… just fine… YEAH RIGHT! What the hell am I going to do, huh? LIMP away if something chases after me?' _She sourly thought with a grim expression upon her face as she kept nervously glancing around the hallway.

As if being in that empty hallway _alone_ wasn't scary enough, one of the ceiling lights above her suddenly flickered for a moment before it went out completely. Taking in a deep breath to try and calm her nerves down, she then sighed out loud in frustration. _'Those two had BETTER hurry up!'_ She nervously thought as she continued to just stand there, listening to nothing but the dead silence that surrounded her.


	10. Escape

**_Here's the last chapter, everyone! Enjoy!_**

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**Chapter 10: "Escape"**

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Unlike the rest of the "normal looking" facility, traveling further back on the fifth floor did NOT resemble a hospital-type setting. Instead, it looked like some kind of weird… _sci-fi_ place that you'd only see in movies. The hallways were much narrower and the wall panels consisted of shiny metallic siding, which currently were smeared with dried blood, large claw marks and dents in some areas. A few of the electronic metal sliding doors were either opened or busted down, revealing darkened rooms inside. Several dead scientists' bodies, which were mutilated beyond recognition, lay scattered on the floor in pools of their own blood throughout the corridor. Strange, large animal-like footprints were also imprinted in the blood as well. To top it all off, most of the ceiling lights above were busted and kept flickering on and off, creating a dark and eerie atmosphere. Overall, the fifth floor was one terrifying place to be.

"SESSHOUMARU!" Inuyasha angrily hollered as he continued to run throughout the corridor, ignoring the mess of bodies and destruction that was all around him. His only concern at the moment was trying to find his half-brother, whom had long since disappeared from view.

Spotting an open door up ahead that had a small amount of light pouring out into the hallway, he became angrier as he practically sprinted towards that room. _'He must be in there!'_ He mentally concluded as he finally made his way to the open door. Once he entered, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

The room, in which Inuyasha was now standing in, was VERY large. Many strange looking capsules were lined side-by-side amongst most of the walls. Inside the capsules were weird reptilian-looking specimens, which were almost the size of a regular human male. They had green scaly skin and had large hands and feet, all adorned with sharp long white claws. All of the creatures were sustained in some kind of thick, yellow liquid inside the capsules and appeared to be in a state of sleep.

Also scattered around the room were various technical machinery and monitors that kept making beeping sounds and other weird noises. Off to the left side of the room, was a small office that looked like someone had trashed.

Finally, Inuyasha spotted Sesshoumaru, who was smirking evilly. He was standing in the middle of the room, next to a much larger capsule than the others. The specimen inside was different as well. It was at least seven feet tall and had pale white skin that coated its heavily muscled body. Its right arm appeared normal looking while the left one partially resembled what looked to be a giant claw of some sorts. The creature also had long white hair, which was floating atop its head in the thick, blue liquid inside the capsule. Its face, which surprisingly appeared to look like a normal humans', seemed… familiar somehow. Metal tubes and wires were also injected into the specimen's flesh, most likely to monitor its status.

"Ahh, it seems you've caught up to me, little brother!" Sesshoumaru playfully stated as he remained where he stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Inuyasha angrily spat as he glared hatefully over at his half-brother.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "You surprised me, Inuyasha. Really, you did!" He remarked in a mocking tone. "I thought that you would've been dead by now."

Inuyasha snorted. "A few zombies ain't gonna stop me just 'cause I'm fully human right now!" He smartly retorted and then spoke in a much darker tone. "I've come to kill you, you bastard!"

Sesshoumaru laughed like a maniac. "So, you've come to avenge your whore-of-a-mother's death I see." He stated, still chuckling.

Inuyasha growled. "You've taken away _YEARS_ of my life, making me believe that my mother was still _ALIVE_ somewhere…!" He angrily said through clenched teeth. "_WHY_? You hate me just as much as I hate you, so _WHY_ did you keep me around all this time, even after you killed her?"

Sesshoumaru evilly smirked. "Because it amused me to see you suffer like the way you did." He heartlessly stated.

Just then, Kouga entered the room.

"Oh, there you are, Kouga." Sesshoumaru replied in a bored manner. "I was wondering when—"

"Shut your fucking mouth, you piece of slime!" Kouga interrupted suddenly as he started growling.

Taken aback in mild surprise, Sesshoumaru quickly recollected his composure and glared over at the other Demon. "What's the meaning of this outburst?" He angrily questioned. "Don't you realize who you're messing with?"

Kouga glared hatefully at Sesshoumaru. "I don't give a shit anymore!" He angrily declared. "You killed Ayame and Kagura, and now I'm—"

"Going to get revenge, correct?" Sesshoumaru answered for Kouga in a bored tone. "I swear you two are the most predictable idiots in the world…"

Inuyasha and Kouga both just growled.

"Enough of this petty talk!" Sesshoumaru suddenly declared as he turned around and started pressing various buttons on a control panel that was at the base of the large capsule. "I have a surprise for the both of you, especially you little _brother_!"

The blue liquid inside the capsule started draining quickly and within a matter of seconds, the capsule was completely free of the liquid. After a moment, the creature abruptly opened its blank, milky white eyes and slowly moved its head down to observe the three men who were standing within the room.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Let me introduce you to Specimen #26: the Tyrant," He stated in a sadistic manner. "Or what was once known as our… _father_, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha unknowingly took a step back in shock with a horrific look upon his face. "You heartless, sick bastard!" He spat with disgust in his voice, unable to tear his gaze away from his former "father".

'_I've got a bad feeling about this…'_ Kouga mentally thought in slight panic as he too, kept his gaze on the large Tyrant inside the glass-covered capsule.

Suddenly, the Tyrant balled its right hand into a fist and then slowly moved its arm back. In one powerful motion, its large fist connected with the front glass of the capsule and instantly shattered it, sending shards of glass flying out all over the place. The Tyrant then jumped out of its confined space and landed loudly down onto the floor beside Sesshoumaru.

Without so much as a flinch, Sesshoumaru casually looked up at the Tyrant, showing no fear whatsoever. He then gestured his left hand over towards Inuyasha and Kouga and pointed his finger at them. "KILL THOSE TWO!" He loudly commanded in a serious tone.

The Tyrant didn't move. Instead, it slowly moved its head over to the side and stared down at Sesshoumaru with an expressionless face.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Sesshoumaru angrily questioned in mild confusion. "I said for you to—"

Without warning, the Tyrant suddenly thrust its claw-like arm right through the middle of Sesshoumaru's abdomen, which then came out through his back. Blood literally started pouring out from his stomach and back as he started to make gasping sounds. The Tyrant then slowly raised the Demon into the air, as if he weighed nothing.

Inuyasha and Kouga just stood there in utter shock and fear as they couldn't help but watch the horrific scene that was taking place right before their very eyes.

Sesshoumaru continued to dangle helplessly with wide, shock-filled eyes as he grunted in pain and tried to wriggle himself free of the Tyrant's hold. "Y-you c-can't dis… disobey… m-me!" He stuttered as he struggled to talk and breathe at the same time.

Ignoring Sesshoumaru completely, the Tyrant swung its massive arm back, with the Demon still impaled, and then carelessly threw him all the way over across the room with lightning speed. Sesshoumaru's body collided loudly with the wall with such a great force that he managed to put a large dent and several cracks into the wall, along with his blood splattering all over the place. His body then slid down onto the floor with a loud, sick _'thump'_. After a moment, the Tyrant's attention then turned towards other two men who were still standing within the room.

'_Oh shit…'_ Inuyasha mentally thought win panic as he stared with wide eyes at the slowly approaching Tyrant. He started feeling sick in the gut, thinking about how easily the Tyrant took out his older half-brother. "Wh-what the hell should we do?" He questioned out loud in an unsure tone as both he and Kouga started taking slow steps backwards.

Still unable to tear his gaze away from the Tyrant, Kouga gulped nervously. "I… I don't know, man!" He blurted out in a stuttering tone, trying desperately to think of some type of a plan. _'That THING just took out Sesshoumaru as if he were nothing! How in the HELL are we supposed to beat this thing?'_ He mentally declared in panic.

Suddenly without warning, the Tyrant broke out in a short burst of speed towards Inuyasha and Kouga with its clawed arm raised high up into the air, ready to annihilate its victims. But both men managed to jump out of the way just in time before it could even touch them.

Inuyasha immediately turned around to face the Tyrant, as did Kouga who was over on the opposite side of the Tyrant, and quickly loaded new clips into both of his Uzi's.

The Tyrant seemed confused for a moment before it took notice of where its victims were. It slowly looked over to the left and spotted Kouga, who was just standing in a defensive stance. Without warning, it quickly broke out into a short sprint and rammed its solid muscled shoulder right into the middle of the Demon's body, which sent him flying backwards a couple of feet, landing forcefully down onto the hard floor.

Kouga groaned in pain as he struggled to pick himself up off of the floor. Upon hearing heavy footsteps, he looked up and noticed that the Tyrant was slowly approaching him. "SHOOT THE DAMN THING, WILL YA?" He hollered, hoping that Inuyasha had heard him. _'Damn…'_ He thought with a pained scowl upon his face as he clutched his hurting midsection. _'I think a couple of my ribs are broken…'_

"I'M ON IT!" Inuyasha hollered back as he clicked off the safeties on both guns, then immediately started firing away at the Tyrant's back.

The Tyrant didn't seem to be fazed by the many bullets that kept connecting with its flesh, even as blood spurted from its wounds. It just kept making its way towards Kouga. When it finally got within three feet of the Demon, it swung its massive clawed arm back and prepared to strike.

Kouga managed to jump out of the way in time without getting decapitated, putting more distance between he and the Tyrant.

By now, Inuyasha had used up almost all of his Uzi clips—even the ones that were all strapped to his chest. _'Damn! Why won't this thing die already?' _He thought in frustration as he loaded his last two Uzi clips into both guns. After firing a few more times at the Tyrant's backside, he suddenly heard the dreaded clicking sound coming from both guns. Angry, he then hastily threw both guns down onto the floor and quickly grabbed his Magnum gun, which was still tucked onto the side of his belt, and resumed with shooting once again at the Tyrant.

This time, the Tyrant's face contorted into an unreadable expression as it suddenly stopped its pursuit against Kouga. Seemingly annoyed, it slowly turned around and started heading back towards Inuyasha.

'_SHIT! It's coming after ME now!'_ Inuyasha thought in panic as he started backing up even more, still firing at the Tyrant.

'_I have to stop it!'_ Kouga mentally declared as he slowly got back onto his feet and took off in a somewhat sprint, then jumped onto the Tyrants back, digging both of his claws right into the middle of its shoulder blades.

The Tyrant made a sort of grunting sound as it tried to shrug Kouga off its back but was unsuccessful. It then wildly swung its clawed arm around to try and hit him off, but failed as well.

Inuyasha immediately stopped firing so he could jump out of the way to avoid the Tyrant's swinging clawed arm, which just nearly sliced his head off.

Getting fed up with the annoying Demon on its back, the Tyrant slowly stomped over to the nearest wall and then immediately started ramming its back up against it, trying to make the Demon let go of it.

Even though it hurt like hell getting slammed repeatedly against the wall, Kouga stubbornly remained on the Tyrant's back, digging deeper and deeper into its flesh with his claws.

The Tyrant then staggered forward and tried forcefully twisting its body to the side, which resulted in Kouga finally falling off its back. It then raised its left foot in the air, getting ready to stomp down on Kouga who was lying on the floor still.

"WATCH OUT, KOUGA!" Inuyasha hollered in worry. Before he even knew what he was doing, he suddenly dropped the Magnum and started running towards the Tyrant. When he got close enough, he jumped up and grabbed a tight hold of its left arm, which got the Tyrants' attention.

The Tyrant swung its left arm to the side, sending Inuyasha roughly down onto the hard floor a couple of feet away, right in front of the Tyrants' broken capsule.

In the meantime, Kouga had somehow managed to slip past the Tyrant and made his way over to Inuyasha's Magnum, which was still lying on the floor. "OVER HERE, BIGFOOT!" He yelled out loud to get the Tyrants attention—which it did. He then immediately started firing away.

Inuyasha groaned in pain and rolled over onto his right side._ 'Damn that hurt…'_ He thought as he reached over to touch his injured shoulder—only to find that a large, hand-sized shard of broken glass was sticking out from the back. For a moment, he felt sick at the sight of seeing his own blood, but then quickly shook the thoughts from his head. Gathering as much inner courage as possible, he tightly grabbed onto the piece of glass, deeply cutting up his hand in the process, and pulled with all his might while yelling loudly with pain. When he finally got the glass out, he threw it off to the side and clutched his throbbing and bleeding shoulder with his shaky hand.

"INUYASHA!" Kouga called out suddenly, which got the half-Demon's attention, as he kept firing at the Tyrant and backing out towards the exit. The expression in his eyes showed fear, yet determination as he shouted out his next statement. "GET KAGOME AND THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Inuyasha shouted back in a confused tone as he started to pick himself up from off of the floor.

"JUST DO AS I SAY, DAMN IT!" Kouga loudly ordered as he quickly sprinted out the door, the Tyrant stomping after him in hot pursuit.

Breathing heavily, Inuyasha just stood there for a second, feeling dumbfounded. _'What the hell should I do? I can't just leave him to fight the Tyrant all by himself!'_ He frantically thought with worry as he jogged towards the exit. _'…But I have to get Kagome out of here first! I don't want that thing going after her next!'_ After exiting the room, he quickly started jogging back to where he had left Kagome behind.

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Despite his injuries, Kouga had made it all the way down to the lower basement levels within a matter of minutes and was currently heading back towards the Reactor Room. The Tyrant was still chasing after him, but at a much slower pace now. It seemed that the Tyrant was only able to sprint in short distances, which was lucky for Kouga or he would've never been able to make it as far as he did.

He quickly ran inside the office and then straight into the room where the reactor was. Ignoring Manten's lifeless body that was still lying face down on the floor, he went right for the main control panel that was in the middle of the room. He quickly took out the set of keys from his pants pocket and fumbled around until he found the right one. He then inserted the correct key into the required keyhole and turned it to the left. _'You had better be out of here by now, Inuyasha…!'_ He mentally declared with a worried frown as he pressed a large red button that was next to the key.

Almost immediately, a loud emergency siren went off and an automatic feminine voice kept repeating:

"_WARNING! THE SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED! ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE EVACUATE THE FACILITY IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! THE—"_

Just then, the Tyrant finally appeared in the doorway behind Kouga.

Kouga turned around and smirked triumphantly. "Hey there, freak!" He smartly taunted, knowing for a fact that he'd never make it out of the building in time. He settled for the fact that he'd be dying for a great and noble cause; destroying the Demon Corporation and all of its sick and twisted experiments. "This place is gonna blow sky-high, and I'm taking _your_ sorry ass down with me!"

The Tyrant loudly roared in an inhuman tone and quickly sprinted right over towards Kouga, stabbing him right through the center of his chest with its clawed arm. It then raised the Demon high up into the air and stared at him with its blank, white eyes.

As Kouga dangled helplessly in the air, he somehow kept a smirk on his face even though he was in immense pain. _'Now I'll be able to… see Ayame… once again…'_ Those were his last thoughts as his eyes closed for the very last time as he finally departed the world of the living.

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"KAGOME!" Inuyasha called out as he ran towards the frightened girl, who was standing in the middle of the hallway with a concerned expression upon her face as red emergency lights kept continuously flashing, along with a recorded voice echoing throughout the entire area about declaring a self-destruction sequence being activated. Once he finally reached her, he quickly grabbed her by the hand. "We've got to get out of here!" He frantically stated as he put her arm around his shoulder, even though it hurt like hell due to his injury, and started helping her walk along as they started making their way down the hallway.

"What about Kouga?" Kagome asked in a worried tone as she struggled to walk as fast as she could with Inuyasha. "We can't just leave him behind…!"

"There's no time!" Inuyasha declared as they finally found the stairwell and started climbing up the stairs to the sixth floor. He silently thanked Kouga for what he did, and vowed to never forget his great sacrifice for them.

When they finally reached the sixth level, they discovered that it was some sort of large receptionist area. Chairs and tables were overturned and many papers and documents were scattered all over the floor, along with streaks of dried bloodstains. There were also a few lingering zombies standing around as well, but the pair easily made it past them and headed straight for the main stairwell that led up to the outside.

Just before they finally exiting the building, the overhead voice called out:

"_WARNING! TEN MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION! EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! TEN MINUTES UNTIL—"_

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It was still dark and raining outside as Inuyasha and Kagome desperately made their way as fast as they could through the dense forest, trying to get as far away as possible before the lab facility exploded. Lightning streaks appeared every so often in the sky, along with loud thunder clapping every now and then, making the night seem even more dreadful than what it already was.

Kagome's feet suddenly stumbled over a fallen tree branch, which resulted with her tripping and falling forward down onto the cold and muddy earth, almost bringing Inuyasha down along with her. She panted heavily as they both tried helping her to stand on her feet once more. "I… I can't run… any… more…" She struggled to say in between breaths. The medicine that she was injected with earlier was already starting to wear off, causing all the dizziness and pain from her wounds to return once again. "Just leave me! I'll only slow you down…!" She demanded as tears of frustration started welling up within her eyes.

Without saying a word, Inuyasha quickly yet carefully hoisted Kagome up over his other uninjured shoulder and then continued to flee, with much more difficulty this time. He felt extremely exhausted and almost every single muscle within his entire body ached. His burning lungs screamed for him to stop and catch his breath, but his will to live and escape this hellish nightmare was all the encouragement that he needed to keep pushing on.

As Inuyasha continued to hurriedly make his way through the forest with Kagome draped over his shoulder, tightly clutching the back of his black tank top, she suddenly looked up upon hearing the sounds of distant growling and spotted one of those dead hounds chasing after them at a very quick rate. Her eyes widened in fear as a dreadful feeling built up within her gut. "INUYASHA!" She screamed out loud, along with a loud thunderclap sounding off at the same exact time.

But Inuyasha never heard her call his name because of the loud thunderclap and therefore kept struggling to run.

Fearing for her and Inuyasha's life, Kagome hastily grabbed the gun that she had previously tucked inside a bit in the back of her pants and quickly clicked off the safety and tried aiming at the approaching hound, but it was sort of difficult to do so in her position. When she thought she had the gun aimed well enough, she took the chance and pulled the trigger, but the bullet missed the hound by a couple of feet.

The loud gunshot finally caught Inuyasha's attention. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He practically screamed out loud in a confused tone as he continued make his way through the dense forest.

"SOMETHING'S CHASING US!" Kagome hollered over her shoulder as she concentrated on aiming once again. "JUST KEEP RUNNING!" She pulled the trigger and this time, the bullet hit its target—right into the hounds' backside. She then continued to fire shot after shot at the beast until a bullet finally hit it in its head, killing it instantly.

A moment later, a sudden loud _'KA-BOOM!'_ erupted throughout the forest and at the same time caused the earth shake violently, which knocked Inuyasha off his feet and sent both he and Kagome down onto the muddy ground. They both instinctively covered their heads with both of their hands, wondering if they were far enough away from the blast to survive or not.

Behind them in the far distance, a humongous orange-grayish mushroom cloud formed high up into the night's sky—where the Onigumo Mansion and Shikon Corporation lab facility once stood.

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A few minutes had passed by when finally the forest became calm once more and the only thing you could hear was the sound of rain pelting down upon the earth. Finally, Inuyasha and Kagome slowly picked themselves up off of the cold, muddy forest floor with shaky legs. They then looked over at each other with surprise and relief in their eyes.

"Are you ok?" Inuyasha asked with concern as he approached Kagome.

"Yeah," Kagome plainly answered as she put her left hand over her sweaty forehead. "I just feel like crap though…"

A worried expression appeared upon Inuyasha's face as he carefully picked Kagome up bridal style. He then resumed with continuing his journey through the forest, only this time he chose to walk at a leisurely pace, since he was too weak and tired to jog anymore.

"My jeep's parked alongside the road next to the woods…" Kagome quietly informed as she rested her head against Inuyasha's chest, listening to his rhythmic heartbeat. "The keys should still be in the ignition..." She then mumbled to herself, finally letting her exhausted body relax a little.

After what seemed like the longest time, Inuyasha had finally made it out of the dense forest and onto the main road. Not too far down the road, he spotted Kagome's parked jeep, right where she said she'd left it. He made his way over to the vehicle and checked for the keys, which were still in the ignition as well. He then helped Kagome into the passenger side seat and buckled her seatbelt for her and then made his way over to the driver's side and got in as well, also buckling his seatbelt.

"…Have you ever driven a vehicle before?" Kagome hesitantly questioned in a tired tone as she watched Inuyasha hesitate before turning on the vehicle's ignition, looking lost for a moment, like he didn't have a clue as to what to do next.

"Of course I have!" Inuyasha smartly snapped as he fumbled with the gear clutch down next to his seat. "I just… never drove a jeep before!" _'Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I've never driven ANYTHING before in my entire life!'_ He mentally admitted as he stared at the steering wheel in front of him for moment. _'Kagome can't drive right now, so I have no choice… Besides, how hard can driving be anyway?'_

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After a few unsuccessful tries and almost sliding off the road and colliding into a patch of trees, Inuyasha finally figured out how to drive the "stupid thing"—as he called it—and was currently speeding the jeep down the mountainside road, with Kagome tightly gripping the sides of her seat out of fear, mentally vowing never again to let him do the driving.

About a half an hour later, they finally made it out of the mountains and into the small "hic town" that was on the outskirts of the city. They also noticed, to their relief that the sky was turning into a slightly bluish tint, signaling that dawn would soon be approaching.

As Inuyasha slowly drove through the town, he noticed that hardly any cars were parked in the area and that no one seemed to be around anywhere. _'Well, DUH moron!'_ He mentally scolded himself. _'Of course no one's around! Technically, it's still night time, so of course everyone's still sleeping!' _Taking a quick glance over at Kagome, he noticed that she looked like she was ready to pass out. "Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned tone as he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

"A little bit I guess. I just feel so tired though…" She quietly replied as she struggled to keep her eyelids open. Suddenly remembering that most of the houses in that area were left abandoned before she made her trip up into the mountains, she sat upright and cleared her throat. "Can we please stop somewhere to rest?" Before Inuyasha could say anything, she continued. "When I drove through here two days ago, I noticed that most of the houses in this area were empty. So I don't think that anyone would really mind if we _borrowed_ their house to rest for a little bit, you know?"

Inuyasha nodded in agreement, for the fact that he was really tired and exhausted as well. "Ok then. We'll stop somewhere to rest for awhile and then leave." He plainly stated as he scanned the area for an abandoned house. When he finally spotted one, he parked the jeep alongside the curb right in front of the chosen house and got out, making sure to grab the 9mm handgun from Kagome. Being cooped up in the Mansion for so long with only demented assholes and hellish creatures and such, he trusted no one and therefore was taking _NO_ chances whatsoever, especially since he was still fully human at the moment as well.

Inuyasha quietly walked up the front porch's creaky wooden steps and approached the front door. There was a metal plated lock attached to the door and the door's wooden frame, preventing anyone from getting into the house. Frowning, he then walked over to one of the two boarded up windows and started prying the large piece of wood off. When the board finally gave away, he set the wooden board down onto the porch and then used the butt-end of the handgun to break the window open near the top—where the lock to the window was. After quickly glancing around the neighborhood to see if anyone had heard him break the glass, he then carefully reached through the small jagged hole in the window and managed to successfully unlock the lock. After quietly hoisting the window open, he made his way back over to the jeep to go get Kagome.

About a few minutes later, both Inuyasha and Kagome, who closed and relocked the window once they made it inside,were quietly snooping around on the first floor in the abandoned house. They noticed that most of the furniture and other household items were completely gone. Only a few framed portraits hanging up on the walls, an old brown leather recliner, a large wooden hutch and a large area carpet that had been rolled up and stored in one of the corners of the living room remained.

Inuyasha made his way out into the kitchen, his stomach starting to rumble with hunger. When he spotted the refrigerator, he immediately walked right over to it and opened its door to find that there was only a half-gallon of spoiled milk, some rotten fruits and vegetables, two bottles of unopened spring water and some moldy cheese inside. Frowning in disgust, he quickly grabbed the two water bottles and then shut the refrigerator door.

By now, Kagome had also ventured out into the kitchen and was currently opening all of the cabinets and drawers, searching for something to eat as well. It'd been at least two days since she had any food, so she was _really_ starved! Finally, she found a large bag of unopened sour cream & onion potato chips and a plastic cookie jar filled with stale chocolate chip cookies. Hastily grabbing both items, she then called over to get Inuyasha's attention and showed him her delicious prizes, which caused him to smile in satisfaction.

Finally leaving the kitchen, both teens then cautiously made their way up to the second floor. After quickly checking all of the rooms to see if anyone was really there or not—which no one was, they then sat down in the middle of the floor in one of the larger bedrooms, which still had furniture in it, and began hungrily downing the chips, cookies and water.

A couple of minutes later after they'd finished eating up all of the food, they both hesitantly laid down on the bed, side-by-side with their backs up against each other's, since the bed wasn't that big, and then almost instantly drifted off to sleep.

**

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**

A couple of hours had passed by. Slowly opening his tired eyes, Inuyasha found that he was now facing Kagome, who was snuggled comfortably up against his chest and sleeping peacefully. As he carefully reached down to move a few stray bangs away from her face, he suddenly took notice of his hand, which had sharp nails once again. _'Finally! I'm back to my normal half-Demon self!_' He mentally exclaimed in happiness. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, his eyes then gazed out the nearby window. It appeared to be about late in the afternoon, due to the sun's golden hues of orange and red cascading down upon the earth. There were some huge clouds in the sky as well, but they didn't look like rain clouds though.

At that moment, Kagome suddenly awoke and tiredly yawned as she slowly sat up on the bed. After blinking her eyes a few times, she then looked down over to her right and noticed that Inuyasha was staring at her, which made her immediately blush. "Hey." She quietly stated with a smile.

"Hey." Inuyasha responded back, half smiling as he too, sat up as well. "How are you feeling?"

Kagome hesitantly touched her injured arm and surprisingly, felt no pain whatsoever. "I'm… fine?" She answered in a surprised tone as she quickly unraveled the bandaging from off of her forearm and found that the bite wound had completely disappeared. "What the…?"

"It's daylight." Inuyasha stated as he got up from off of the bed and walked over to the window. "Our Demon blood kicked back in."

Kagome sighed gratefully. "Oh, thank God!" She exclaimed in relief, trying to hold back the tears of joy that threatened to spill. "I really thought that I was gonna die!"

Inuyasha didn't say anything. He just continued to look out the window. _'Her Demon blood must've countered the virus or something…'_ He mentally pondered as if sniffed the air. _'She smells normal, too—like when I first met her.' _Suddenly, he spotted something unusual outside in the far distance, within the denser part of Raccoon City. "What the hell?" He mumbled quietly to himself with a confused expression upon his face.

Overhearing Inuyasha's comment, Kagome curiously got up off of the bed and walked over to the window to see what he was looking at and then gasped at what she saw.

Heavy, billowing smoke was drifting up into the sky, coming from several different parts of the city. With their excellent vision, Inuyasha and Kagome were able to spot several of the closer tall buildings that appeared to have broken out windows. They even spotted, what looked like a few body's hanging halfway out of them with large bloodstains below the windowsills, trailing down the sides of the buildings.

Kagome's swallowed uneasily as her stomach churned with sickness. "What… happened?" She questioned out loud, not really wanting to know the answer. "You don't think that the virus… spread into the city, do you?"

Inuyasha's face contorted into a disturbed expression as his stomach also churned with sickness. "What else do you think might've happened?" He sarcastically remarked in a dry tone. "A massive riot attack?"

"But you told me that the only way for people to get infected with the virus was if they were injected with it or else bitten by a zombie?" Kagome questioned in confusion as she looked over at her friend.

"Well, that's what Sesshoumaru told everyone at least…" Inuyasha trailed off in a confused tone as he shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the virus is airborne or something? That or else some of the zombies somehow made it into the city…"

Kagome suddenly gasped in realization. "OH MY GOD! SOUTA!" She loudly exclaimed as she suddenly dashed towards the door. "I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!"

Inuyasha quickly reached out and grabbed her by the arm to stop her. "Are you nuts?" He exclaimed, raising his voice a bit. "Who the hell _knows _what's lurking around in that damn city! There could be _millions _of zombies or even more of those monsters, like that damn _Tyrant _for all we know!"

"Tyrant…?" Kagome questioned as she looked over at Inuyasha with a confused expression.

Inuyasha sighed. "It's a long story." He stated in an annoyed tone, obviously not in the mood to talk about the incident.

Kagome stubbornly yanked her arm out of Inuyasha's hold and then marched over to the bedroom's dresser, and started pulling out various articles of clothing, searching for something clean to wear. When she finally found some clothes that she liked, she then marched out of the room with the clothing in her hands and crossed the hall over to the bathroom.

Inuyasha frowned. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked in a confused tone as he walked out into the hallway as well.

"I'm taking a quick shower," Kagome declared in a serious tone. "Then I'm heading into the city to find my brother—with or _without _you!" With that last statement, she slammed the bathroom door closed, leaving the frustrated half-Demon standing out in the hallway all by himself.

* * *

**The End… _for now_.**


End file.
